OT: - BJ's Wholesale vs Costco, etc | The Boneyard

OT: BJ's Wholesale vs Costco, etc

Chin Diesel

Chin Diesel

I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going
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Getting one nearby soon.

How does it compare to Costco or Sam's?

Talking about the wholesale club, not the restaurant.
 
It's not as good. We mainly just use it for paper stuff. But what about BJ's the restaurant? A new one is getting ready to open at Buckland Hills.
 
Waquoit said:
It's not as good. We mainly just use it for paper stuff. But what about BJ's the restaurant? A new one is getting ready to open at Buckland Hills.
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Well, we don't have a Costco nearby. Sam's is okay but we don't use it any more.

BJ's restaurant is good. Big menu, they grew there own beer at some level (Not sure if it's in house or shipped to restaurants). Full bar.

Standard heavy deep dish pizzas, flatbreads too. Have some decent wings and sauces.

Plenty of legit food too. I always like the parmesan crusted chicken with garlic spuds and fresh veggies.

You shouldn't have to break the bank and Happy Hour specials are plentiful.
 
Chin Diesel said:
Getting one nearby soon.

How does it compare to Costco or Sam's?

Talking about the wholesale club, not the restaurant.
Expand ...
Guessing they’re all similar, with different house brands. Was there today... asked my wife what size tv she wanted... she smiled.
 
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We use BJ's for bulk shopping because its closer to us than Sam's or Costco. Its one of the few places we can get hot sausage patties in Florida. We usually go 2 or 3 times a month.

As to BJ's the restaurant - well worth a visit. Extensive menu with very good food & pizza. A well stocked bar with quality bourbon!
 
I go to Costco, rest of my fam uses BJs. BJs has a deli that Costco doesn't have, don't know about Sam's. They all say that if you're going to join BJs, get the credit card. You get like 10¢ off a gallon plus bonus points off depending on rewards. My parents have done the shopping then gotten gas and ended up like 70¢ off a gallon. Costco doesn't have that...
 
We have a BJs membership because it’s a bit closer than Costco. Most people seem to like Costco better, although I’ve never gotten a good answer as to why.

You can often get a BJs membership for $25, but I’ve never seen Costco for less than regular price. Might be worth trying BJs for $25 bucks first, then switch to Costco if for some reason you don’t like BJs.
 
Costco all the way. Feel they have better quality items for what we are looking for in particular compared to the other stores.

I
 
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Better pricing on bulk goods at BJ's. Everything else about Costco is better. I use BJ's because it's closer and on the way to work, but now that I don't have to buy gas I may drop it altogether.
 
#CostcoLife
45062
 
Chin Diesel said:
Getting one nearby soon.

How does it compare to Costco or Sam's?

Talking about the wholesale club, not the restaurant.
Expand ...
We have a BJ's Wholesale in town, no Costco nearby. We use it all the time.

1. The obvious bulk foods, but the Deli is also solid and runs about $2 a pound cheaper than local supermarkets. If you BBQ or smoke meat, BJs will crush your local supermarket butcher on price.
2. Contact lenses and glasses. Way cheaper than other local options.
3. Clothes. Oddly, I find a lot of great deals on golf shorts and shirts, and even some other clothes items. Calloway, Pebble Beach, decent brands.
4. It's an occasional purchase, but I've bought a few TVs there.
5. Contact Lens solution, vitamins, ibuprofen, and other toiletries, much cheaper than CVS or even Target
6. Ours has a gas station. Cheapest in the area.
7. Some decent outdoor stuff, like solar path lights, BBQ tools, tiki torches and other random items.
 
Forgot to add, if it has booze or even just wine and beer, there are some good values to be had. Not everything of course, but some solid deals.
 
.-.
Chin Diesel said:
Getting one nearby soon.

How does it compare to Costco or Sam's?

Talking about the wholesale club, not the restaurant.
Expand ...
I am members at both and BJ's is not in the same league as Costco. I belong to BJ's because it is in town and for gasoline mainly.
One advantage of BJ's is that you can purchase smaller quantities (1 loaf of bread instead of 2) and the other is they have a deli. The quality of meat, coffee etc. doesn't compare to the Kirkland Costco brand and there is no food court at BJ's.
 
I'll chime in for Costco. Trust the quality of products. Kirkland brand. Simple return policy.

They have a 4 3 2 1 credit card.
  • 4% rebate on gas on up to $7000 in spend per year (then 1% back)
  • 3% rebate on restaurant and travel
  • 2% on Costco and at Costco.com
  • 1% on everything else
 
bigknight3 said:
I'll chime in for Costco. Trust the quality of products. Kirkland brand. Simple return policy.

They have a 4 3 2 1 credit card.
  • 4% rebate on gas on up to $7000 in spend per year (then 1% back)
  • 3% rebate on restaurant and travel
  • 2% on Costco and at Costco.com
  • 1% on everything else
Expand ...

And some have liquor stores with cheap liquor under the Kirkland label.
 
Chin Diesel said:
Well, we don't have a Costco nearby. Sam's is okay but we don't use it any more.

BJ's restaurant is good. Big menu, they grew there own beer at some level (Not sure if it's in house or shipped to restaurants). Full bar.

Standard heavy deep dish pizzas, flatbreads too. Have some decent wings and sauces.

Plenty of legit food too. I always like the parmesan crusted chicken with garlic spuds and fresh veggies.

You shouldn't have to break the bank and Happy Hour specials are plentiful.
Expand ...
Costco has a better meat department, the quality of their roasts and steaks are generally better. On the other hand I would take BJ's Deli over Costco's any day, BJ's Deli blows Costco away. For seafood and seafood specials I would take Costco over BJ's for sure. For the Bakery again I would give the edge to Costco. If you want to nickel and dime me on prices for milk, eggs, lemonade, and other Staples, I'd give a slight edge to BJ's.
 
huskyrob1 said:
Costco has a better meat department, the quality of their roasts and steaks are generally better. On the other hand I would take BJ's Deli over Costco's any day, BJ's Deli blows Costco away. For seafood and seafood specials I would take Costco over BJ's for sure. For the Bakery again I would give the edge to Costco. If you want to nickel and dime me on prices for milk, eggs, lemonade, and other Staples, I'd give a slight edge to BJ's.
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Agreed on the Deli. I don't have a Costco anymore, but nobody is convincing me that Kirkland is better than Dietz & Watson, which is what BJs has. I wouldn't buy seafood either place.

I didn't get the sense that Chin Diesel had a Costco option.
 
COSTCO has the best return policy of any place I've ever shopped at. I've returned things years later after they stopped working and gotten a full refund.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
Agreed on the Deli. I don't have a Costco anymore, but nobody is convincing me that Kirkland is better than Dietz & Watson, which is what BJs has. I wouldn't buy seafood either place.

I didn't get the sense that Chin Diesel had a Costco option.
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Yes Dietz & Watson cold cuts are light years better than Kirkland, BJ's also sells imported DAK boiled ham and baked ham. Dietz & Watson also makes the best casing hotdogs IMHO. D&W also sells the same hotdogs in Shop Rite under the "Black Bear" brand, which people rave about. Occasionally Costco will get a shipment in from Vietnam of huge freshwater prawns that are almost as big as small lobster tails and are extremely fresh.
 
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Thanks for feedback.

It will be just far enough out of the way for regular shopping (About 15 miles) but close enough to take a look.

Maybe certain things like tires or bigger purchases.

Nice thing about deli meats and cheeses is being retired military. The commissary grocery store carries Boar's Head products and price is tough to beat and that store is much more convenient to go grocery shopping.
 
Costco simply has the benefit of being the most established and biggest. Every brand wants to sell at Costco because of the volume they will get. That means Costco gets to pick and choose the best of the best. Brands have to bring it and convince Costco to sell their product and they have to have aggressive pricing. I remember some show years ago about Christmas toys. Hundreds of vendors offer to see their stuff at Costco and they only pick the top 10% or so of what they believe are the best products and values.

You won't get to pick between different brands of the same product, Costco just takes the top one and that's what you get - but at a great price. It's hard to argue with that approach.

After that, they have a pretty small margin they mark stuff up - about 8 to 10% after heavy wholesale pricing. The bottom line, if it's the product you want and you don't mind buying a lot of it, you are not going to find a better price anywhere and you are unlikely to find higher quality to boot.

And a little bit of an unknown deal on the Costco's actual pricing (in terms of the cents for each product):
.98 or .99 cents means Costco did not get a special deal from the supplier and is not marked down.
.97 is Costco's number for a managers sale to move stock - ie. it's an even better price than normal but limited in time.
.27 - .89 means they got a bulk deal or are testing the items at a lower price than what they would normally like to sell at and have discounted the item more than normal.
.88 or .00 is for discontinued items or damaged items they are trying to get rid of. Great deal, but it won't be around for long. Make sure you check the package to make sure it's in good shape.

Discontinued items will have an * in the upper right hand corner of the price card (not part of the description). These items will not be reordered.
 
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