At our Costco, we find Sunday mornings to be the best. We're in and out of there in a breeze.

We find an hour or so before closing on Saturday night to be good.

Just as the open or an hour before closing.

If you're serious about this truly being a "yearly" trip, I'd suggest you go more often. Your habit of going infrequently makes your list long and may be what makes it a big deal for you.

We probably go a few times a month and rarely spend more time than we do for a normal trip to grocery store. Going less frequently and buying more in one visit would make it a hassle in my mind, I'd have to use a flat bed or two instead of a cart and have to lug all that bulk at once. I probably wouldn't bother.

Rewards for shopping once a year? Must be worthwhile.

I was at Cost Co today, at 11ish and it was not crowded. I have been there when the parking lot was full, I almost like it better they have more registers going. Cost Co is big, I have really never seen it be too bad~~

Why not try when it first opens?

This probably depends on where your Costco is located. The one in Kahului on Maui is almost always a mob scene, but the one near our home in Chicagoland has never been painfully busy.

We are at Costco at least monthly. I was just in and out of there today in 20 minutes around 1 p.m. (There are often more people just buying a cheap lunch.)

You could phone your store to express your concerns. Call them. They won't bite! LOL

When it opens is when we go.
Mary

Ours has a few self check outs which never have long lines. I just bought the Kirkland automatic dishwasher soap (gel) and it works much better than Cascade or Finish!! I also bought the Kirkland kitchen trash bags and they are quite strong-no stretching or tearing. I have often read Kirkland brand is quite good. I'm experimenting,

double post

This post was edited by angelaid on Thu, Jul 24, 14 at 18:50

I get reward points for most everything I use the card for. Not just Costco. I stock the pantry (and freezer, cow and pig) every summer/fall. That's how husband grew up on the farm and it's a secure feeling, for us, going into winter. He does the week to week shopping, but it takes two of us to do the bulk shopping.

Lisa, the only Kirkland label product I haven't found to like equally as well as national brand names is their powdered laundry soap. Everything else Kirkland I've bought has been first quality, edibles and otherwise.

I go maybe every 6 weeks or so. I avoid a weekend if at all possible but will go then if DH is along to park, load the car and cooler (closest Costco an hour away). The day before a holiday isn't good. I'm rarely there in the mornings because I will usually make it my last stop before driving home, even with a cooler. Most week day afternoons are tolerable ;)

There is another newer Costco just about 15 minutes farther away. I can't shop it quite as quickly, has a different layout and I sometimes miss something on my list, have to backtrack. Parking there is easier, and the store never seems to be as crowded. But, at the same time, that 15 minutes farther adds another half hour total to my already 2 hour round trip.

The best time I've found is the hour before closing on a week night. The place is usually empty.

I don't shop there on the weekends but anytime, especially mid-morning seems to be the best time. Our Costco used to have earlier opening hours for those with business cards but those restrictions have been removed but the business people are still there early so it's a very busy time.

About a year ago our Costco started manning all of the check-outs almost full time and all of them now have two people and one of them packs the groceries for you in whatever you brought - coolers,` bags, boxes, It has really quickened up the lines.

We were there last Friday and the parking lot was crowded. We thought we'd be in there forever, but it doesn't take long to get what we need/want and check out. It looks worse than it is, the long lineups, but because the items are large, it doesn't take long to check out at all.

I've read that their laundry detergent was rated the best.
Good to know that you didn't like it Morz.

We have a new Costco that opened up in the next town, and they have a gas station. Ours doesn't. We're going to check out that Costco just to see if it's much different than ours.

Jasdip, I know a lot of people who think that laundry soap is just fine and use it, but I bought it one time and after a couple of weeks gave it to our budget minded tech to use at his house.

DH gets clothes dirty, he's in the woods every day. I didn't feel it had the cleaning power of say Cheer, or Tide, and if I'd add more soap, I was doing an extra rinse. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't like it. I do buy my laundry supplies there, just not their own brand ;)

We were there last weekend and it wasn't terrible. They don't have very many handicapped parking places. Now that I have my Scooter we can park farther away and I can ride.
We go pretty often so it's not a huge shopping trip. I have certain things I get there so I will wait till I need a few items, but we always find all kinds of stuff we need once there. We always bring our big Costco insulated bag and blue ice for the cold items.

I would think that week days morning would be the least busy times or near closing.

Weekend at closing is very busy.

We live within 35-40 min of 3 Costcos. The closest one is 10 minutes away but it was always a nightmare..parking, shopping, everything no matter what time you went and we stopped going there years ago. We've pretty much gone to the other two on weekends and while they're always busy and the lot is crowded it's never "get me outta here" crazy. It's manageable and the checkout lines move fairly quickly.

We used to go mainly to stock up on cat litter but since our cat died last year we seldom go now. Doesn't seem worth the trip when it's just DH and I. We would mainly buy TP, paper towels, laundry and dishwasher detergent but those items are regularly on sale at the grocery store or Target. I'm debating whether to renew our membership.

Also, before we got the HE washer, we always used the Kirkland plain laundry powder detergent in the big bucket. I thought it was fine.

I've heard a lot of good things about their eye glasses. I'm seriously considering getting my glasses there when I get my eyes checked in the next couple of months.

We go just for their toilet paper, Cascades or Kirkland, men's Depends (short-term item, dh is getting weaned off since his prostate surgery), quinoa is cheaper than anywhere else. We used to always buy the kitty litter there (as does everyone else, lots of people have it in their carts). The 50 lb box is darned heavy, and I've been finding cheaper prices at a discount place next door, in 15 lb bags.

We go a couple of times a month, mostly for produce. My garden is producing like gangbusters now, but my NutriBullet is a hungry beast. :-)

I try not to look around too much.....some of the stuff is delectable looking.

jasdip, I swung by the optical department at Costco not too long ago and asked a few questions for a friend.

The guy I spoke to said their goal is to offer a good quality product at a lower price than eyeglass stores would charge. He said that they are often unable to fill the needs of people looking for a wide variety of frame and lens choices, or who need other than normal sizes or features. He also said that their frames are of just average quality and that frames from other sources tend to be better.

Whether he was a happy employee giving a straight talk or something else I can't say. He seemed interested and engaged. I will say that just as with hearing aids that Costco also sells, it isn't hard for them to have lower prices. There's a ridiculous amount of profit in selling eyeglasses and hearing aids. That's the dirty little secret your eyeglass provider won't talk to you about.

The day that the coupon book sale starts every month is always a very busy day. Is it always on a Thursday?

A few weeks ago I bought a Samsung 10" tablet and a Logitech keyboard case. Well, the next week I got the coupon that had the tablet for $40 less. After the sale started, I just took in my receipt and got the $40 credit. I can't complain.

When they're not giving out food samples....

I'm going to check out the optical when the time comes. I bought my last glasses at BJ's and LOVE them!!! Eye Dr wanted $440 after insurance (progressives and high rx). BJ's eye person actually told me to come back in 2 months after seeing my rx saying lenses and frames would be half off and there would be a special event with a bigger selection. My glasses ended up being $339 and I got $100 back (out of network benefit) so they were about half the price. I will need to find that type of deal again somewhere. I no longer have the BJ's membership, but it doesn't matter for optical anyway, I'll start there.

We recently saw a rerun of a 60Minutes story about the eyeglass frame monopoly. I can't recall the name of the Italian firm, but they manufacture frames for every name brand you could think of. The frames are designed and manufactured by this firm, then then get a "Gucci" or "RayBan" or whatever name affixed to them. This company also owns all of the major optical chains, like Pearle, etc.

I don't know if they own the optical franchises within Costco or other warehouse stores.

(I didn't know that most shoe departments in major retailers are independent of the reatiler until our DS worked for one in HS.)

chisue, you're on the ball, as usual.

The company is Luxottica. It produces most of the licensed name frames on the market (like Donna Kara, Versace, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Bulgari, and on and on) and also RayBan. It also owns lens labs, and retail stores like Sunglass Hut, Lenscrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, etc. They also own EyeMed Vision Care, a large vision benefit (insurance) provider in the US.

The plus is that their stuff is pretty good quality, but the minus is that you pay for it. Even when dealing with an independent optometrist, it's their products you find on the racks.

A new Costco opened in our neighbouring town, and we're going to check it out in the next few weeks. It's the Largest in Canada! Whoohooo. It has gas pumps, which ours don't.