to get a Costco membership
I know that this is something that a good majority of Canadians already have and are probably thinking that I am ridiculously behind the times. And you're probably rolling your eyes wondering why this is a blog post but I have to share this experience as I'm sure it is everyone's general experience with this store.
I have been conflicted about getting a card for years. I have waffled on it many times but this year the price of gas dropped substantially, and even more so at Costco. And my husband's truck needed tires and, you guessed it, Costco had the tires he was looking for. So we took the plunge in October. But I didn't return until today.
My sister calls Costco The $500 Store because you cannot leave without spending that much. I call Home Depot the One Hour Store, and wow, did Costco trump that! And not because of poor service or inefficiencies, it was all because of me. Let me tell you all about my first trip.
I debated on live tweeting the event but I was already a slow moving vehicle, I didn't need to add tweeting to my turtle-like pace. I had to stand in line to get my card and my picture taken. It was a pretty quick line. I went at 9:30 in the morning so that I could "beat the rush". After I had my card I was off to the very very very slow races with all of the soccer moms and elderly people in my city who all had the same thought that I did, beat the very very very slow rush.
I made a list. Let's not be stupid here, you can't go into a store like Costco without a list. And I was vehement about sticking to my list. I had to keep telling myself: do not deviate, do not deviate. It was my mantra as I walked by the electronics, the scads of Christmas chocolate, the merino wool sweaters, if it wasn't on my list I wasn't shopping it.
I almost went so far as to close my eyes walking down some aisles. The nice thing is, if you focus on a wall you don't see all of the amazing deals that you are passing by. So that became my strategy. But then I became as lost and slow as the elderly people pushing the gigantic carts around me. I've never really shopped Costco, I can be in and out of my regular grocery store in under an hour, I have the lay of the land. In this case, I was wandering, slightly lost, intrigued by all of the deals, while trying to ignore them at the same time. I think the customers around me were getting annoyed. I didn't even know where the produce was. In truth, I wanted to ask someone but everyone had the same focused determination around me so they were avoiding any sort of distraction. I lapped the store at least three times, I stopped to chat with an old friend, I went against traffic thinking I could squeeze in (with my ginormous cart), I was easily the most annoying shopper ever, my apologies if you were there and I got in your way - several times.
I was nearing the end of my list, I had everything that I could find and I went to go line up to pay and I spotted it. I had seen it when we did a lap the first night we got our membership (but didn't purchase anything but gas) and I was amazed there was stock left! A shearling rug. In the cart beside me. I immediately asked the woman where she got it. I turned the titanic cart around and bumped a few more people and navigated to the rug area. I stood in front of the bin waiting on a reply from my husband via text to give me the yay or nay. I had to move out of at the way for at least 4 people, there was a pole in that aisle. But I couldn't move too far away, it was such a good deal! My phone buzzed with agreement and bam, my list had 2 new things added to it, one in brown and one in cream. Because, from what I've heard, if you don't buy it today it might be gone by your next visit, even though that was proved false by my own independent research (the rug was there 3 weeks ago). But that's how you end up spending $500 without batting an eye. "Honey, just running to Costco for some groceries and a bunch of other odd miscellaneous things that we don't really need until my impulse shopper kicks in!" Can't miss out on a deal.
I know that I will have to ALWAYS have a list for Costco. And I know that I will have to repeat the mantra, do not deviate, do not deviate as I wander the overstocked aisles.
That's all. (Unless there's a shearling rug on sale!?)
I have been conflicted about getting a card for years. I have waffled on it many times but this year the price of gas dropped substantially, and even more so at Costco. And my husband's truck needed tires and, you guessed it, Costco had the tires he was looking for. So we took the plunge in October. But I didn't return until today.
My sister calls Costco The $500 Store because you cannot leave without spending that much. I call Home Depot the One Hour Store, and wow, did Costco trump that! And not because of poor service or inefficiencies, it was all because of me. Let me tell you all about my first trip.
I debated on live tweeting the event but I was already a slow moving vehicle, I didn't need to add tweeting to my turtle-like pace. I had to stand in line to get my card and my picture taken. It was a pretty quick line. I went at 9:30 in the morning so that I could "beat the rush". After I had my card I was off to the very very very slow races with all of the soccer moms and elderly people in my city who all had the same thought that I did, beat the very very very slow rush.
I made a list. Let's not be stupid here, you can't go into a store like Costco without a list. And I was vehement about sticking to my list. I had to keep telling myself: do not deviate, do not deviate. It was my mantra as I walked by the electronics, the scads of Christmas chocolate, the merino wool sweaters, if it wasn't on my list I wasn't shopping it.
I almost went so far as to close my eyes walking down some aisles. The nice thing is, if you focus on a wall you don't see all of the amazing deals that you are passing by. So that became my strategy. But then I became as lost and slow as the elderly people pushing the gigantic carts around me. I've never really shopped Costco, I can be in and out of my regular grocery store in under an hour, I have the lay of the land. In this case, I was wandering, slightly lost, intrigued by all of the deals, while trying to ignore them at the same time. I think the customers around me were getting annoyed. I didn't even know where the produce was. In truth, I wanted to ask someone but everyone had the same focused determination around me so they were avoiding any sort of distraction. I lapped the store at least three times, I stopped to chat with an old friend, I went against traffic thinking I could squeeze in (with my ginormous cart), I was easily the most annoying shopper ever, my apologies if you were there and I got in your way - several times.
I was nearing the end of my list, I had everything that I could find and I went to go line up to pay and I spotted it. I had seen it when we did a lap the first night we got our membership (but didn't purchase anything but gas) and I was amazed there was stock left! A shearling rug. In the cart beside me. I immediately asked the woman where she got it. I turned the titanic cart around and bumped a few more people and navigated to the rug area. I stood in front of the bin waiting on a reply from my husband via text to give me the yay or nay. I had to move out of at the way for at least 4 people, there was a pole in that aisle. But I couldn't move too far away, it was such a good deal! My phone buzzed with agreement and bam, my list had 2 new things added to it, one in brown and one in cream. Because, from what I've heard, if you don't buy it today it might be gone by your next visit, even though that was proved false by my own independent research (the rug was there 3 weeks ago). But that's how you end up spending $500 without batting an eye. "Honey, just running to Costco for some groceries and a bunch of other odd miscellaneous things that we don't really need until my impulse shopper kicks in!" Can't miss out on a deal.
I know that I will have to ALWAYS have a list for Costco. And I know that I will have to repeat the mantra, do not deviate, do not deviate as I wander the overstocked aisles.
That's all. (Unless there's a shearling rug on sale!?)
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