Originally Posted by NoMo50 (Post 2397098)

Right you are. We took a 10-day Mediterranean cruise with Celebrity. Costco Travel had the absolute best rate for the cruise itself, which was fantastic. Less than a week after getting home, we received a Costco Cash card for $920.00. We have found Costco Travel to also have, by far, the best rates for car rentals.

Originally Posted by NoMo50 (Post 2397098)

Right you are. We took a 10-day Mediterranean cruise with Celebrity. Costco Travel had the absolute best rate for the cruise itself, which was fantastic. Less than a week after getting home, we received a Costco Cash card for $920.00. We have found Costco Travel to also have, by far, the best rates for car rentals.

Originally Posted by Bill14564 (Post 2397093)

Several articles I have read said location is the biggest difference between the clubs. Whichever is closest or most convenient is the one most people will use. I tend to agree. From the southern areas, an easy drive down the turnpike to Clermont might be preferable to a trek up 441 to Lady Lake. I live closer to Lady Lake so it's Sam's for me.

Getting to the location of the new Costco is pretty quick and easy for me today. I'll have to see what traffic is like once it opens and decide if I would use even a trial membership.

Originally Posted by JerryLBell (Post 2396893)

I've been members of all three. Sam's Club and BJ's are pretty good, having cheaper gasoline and pretty good quality meats (in bulk, of course!). Costco is usually bigger with more choices, perhaps a shade lower in prices. What I notice mostly is how enthusiastic and helpful Costco employees generally are in comparison to the employees at the other two. I guess you get that when you pay a better wage, offer better benefits and don't try to keep employees under 40 hours a week to keep them from getting benefits. Or maybe it's the fact that the CEO of the company makes something like 7 times as much as the average employee (I may have the number wrong; it's from a special I saw on them years ago) instead of 50 or 100 times as much.

Some people just freakin' LOVE the $1.50 quarter-pound hot dog-and-a-soda deal that Costco has had for years. I tried it once and I thought it was a tube full of gas instead of meat. But then, I'm annoyingly particular about hot dogs.

Originally Posted by bopat (Post 2396909)

Sam's club seems to have more fresh fruit and vegetables than BJ's. BJ's seems to have more seasonable items than Sam's club. Costco has everything.

Originally Posted by LuckyS (Post 2397033)

I’m convinced stores like Costco, Trader Joes, etc., are phycological wants more than a need. We all came from places that had an abundance of these stores, and we just miss that feeling of knowing we can go to them without taking a one hour or so drive.

Originally Posted by ehonour (Post 2396964)

Surprising (to me) answers to this question, most of them by people who don't shop at Costco. Gotta love it when people have an opinion about something they've not explored. We might have someone here that does this on the regular. Mostly about golf carts.

The difference is quality.

I've been a Costco member for well over fifteen years in other locations. When we moved to TV, I tried both Sam's and BJ's because they were close. Neither one came up to the same standards as Costco. So I continued to drive down to Tampa (now Clermont) to go to Costco. There are lots of boxed/wrapped commercial items (toilet paper, kitchen appliances, etc.) for which there is no difference. But most of the foodstuffs are simply better quality at Costco: better flavor, better choice, better price. I look forward to their opening here in TV.

Originally Posted by biker1 (Post 2396894)

Hot dog and a soda at Costco: $1.50
Hot dog and a soda at Sam's: $1.38
Hot dog and a soda at BJ's: not sure they even offer it

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox (Post 2396849)

I have never been in a Costco store, but many on this forum wax lyrical about them.

What are the main differences between a Costco and the other two?

Thank you

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox (Post 2396849)

I have never been in a Costco store, but many on this forum wax lyrical about them.

What are the main differences between a Costco and the other two?

Thank you

Originally Posted by ElDiabloJoe (Post 2397152)

My former co-worker, a solid trustworthy guy told me about his father-in-law. His FIL was a meat salesman. Not a butcher, but a wholesale guy, like Santa Monica Seafood. They supply restaurants. He said there are absolutely quality differences between prime, choice, grade, etc. He said the 5-star restaurants, and some 4-star are getting their best stuff. The grocery stores usually got 3 star quality stuff. The other 3 and 2 star quality stuff went to lesser restaurants like chains (think: Chilis) and mom and pops. Places that offer the $10 sirloin steak.

He then told me, you know who else gets the top quality 5-star stuff. The very highest end stuff? Costco. I have been buying steaks, crab, lobster, ground beef, and ribs there ever since. Outstanding stuff, very fresh - not resealed and repacked like grocery stores might do as the meat turns gray.

Just throwing this out there.

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox (Post 2396849)

I have never been in a Costco store, but many on this forum wax lyrical about them.

What are the main differences between a Costco and the other two?

Thank you

Originally Posted by asianthree (Post 2397088)

I think poster is wondering how one gets all the bargains in a golf cart once Costco is in the bubble. Not that it will be the first golf cart accessible