Costco vs Sam's Club

[lisa928]

If you have a Costco gift card you can shop without a membership. Maybe someone you know can buy you one for say $100 and you can experience it first hand to help with you decision.

Liquor is another favorite for us at Costco.

[carolinamama]

I've never been in a Sam's Club so take my opinion with a grain of salt....
Costco is pretty great as long as it's convenient for you. The produce is generally pretty good, we like some of the prepared foods (DD loves their mac and cheese and she's picky) and I love some of the non-food finds. Last year I bought a new table and chairs set for my patio a bit on a whim and it's worked out so well. My only gripe is that they don't open until 10:00 am because I'd like to stop in around 8:00 after I drop off my kids but that's probably not a big deal for most people. I could probably live without my membership but it's nice to have, especially if you already know you like warehouse shopping.

[smilequeen]

We don’t do either anymore, but Costco a million times. We had a Costco membership for a short time. Now I just ask my mom to grab some things when she goes. I want nothing to do with the Walmart family.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I have both and I have premium memberships and credit cards with both. Our rewards pay for our membership. I like both for different reasons. Sam's Club is generally more convenient --- there are more locations throughout my metropolitan area and it is closer to my home. Plus, I liked being able to go to Sam's Club at 7:30am pre-Covid with my plus membership. Sam's Club generally has better hours. And, if you like the Scan-and-Go app, shopping at Sam's Club is efficient.

Truth be told, there are two Costco's within 20 minutes of my house and I like shopping there too. I usually buy my milk and eggs at Costco. If you have the executive membership, they add a year to the warranty on TVs and electronics. The gas price is good too. And super easy return policy --- but Sam's Club's return policy seems to be on par.

Generally, I think I buy more food at Sam's (they have the street taco kit too), more clothes and household items at Costco, and gas equally.

This 100x I use both all the time, but more food at sams but clothes, gas, and whatnot at both. Executive memberships at both get us big rewards. Just ordered an Apple Watch 7 at sams because their price was $384.xx with free shipping whereas Costco had 389.xx and $5 shipping. Both stores all the way is the best of both worlds.


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[jgenie]

I have a membership to both. I love Costco for eggs, organic milk, mozzarella cheese, grass fed butter, beets, prosciutto, rotisserie chicken, spices, Better Than Bouillon, fresh fruit and veggies. We go through most of the produce before it has a chance to go bad and it’s significantly cheaper than our local grocery store. I don’t live near a Costco so it’s a trek to get there but I tend to go every other week. I love Sam’s for their early hours, online order pickup and scan & go option. I can’t believe Costco hasn’t jumped on the scan and go bandwagon. It’s so convenient! I will buy some fruit and veggies at Sam’s but the freshness doesn’t compare to the freshness at Costco. Produce from Sam’s seems to go bad so much faster than produce from Costco. I tend to run in to pick up things if we’ve run out between Costco runs. I love the 7:30 hours for executive members. So convenient to be able to run in after school drop off.

[gymnbomb]

I prefer Costco, but wouldn’t pay for a membership if I already had one for Sam’s that was much closer to home.


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[bcafe]

Sam's scan and go is life changing!

[sariana]

I think Costco will let you do a trial day. You can check it out to see if your local store would be a good fit for you.

Costco is known for treating its employees well and attempting to source its products responsibly.

[AngB]

Sam's scan and go is life changing!

Sam's in general is WAY more convenient than Costco. Our store is like 25 minutes away and we almost never go because it's always packed and crazy and not worth the hassle. I have my mom get a couple things (my kids love their rolled up sandwich trays) because she's closer and goes. We like it okay for bigger things in case we want to return (ie. I bought a Christmas tree there that was the same my mom had and recommended. Well the week before Christmas it's lights freaking stopped working (and we tried replacing numerous bulbs but the tree had a lot of bad reviews so I don't think it was just us) and it was only like 3 weeks old. I was not about to undecorate the tree to return before Christmas so we waited until after Christmas and returned it. They weren't happy about it but accepted it. I got my roomba ,etc. from there on purpose because I knew if it stopped working I could return easily enough. (I didn't and barely ever return things but I just like knowing I can if we need to, on stuff that's more expensive.)

[essnce629]

Not a fan of Walmart/Sam's and will avoid at all costs if possible (very easy in LA). We only had Sam's Club when we lived in Charlottesville but i was much happier to go back to Costco once we moved back to CA. Last time I went to Walmart (in Walla Walla, WA in August) I experienced a racist encounter which made me want to never again step foot in another Walmart/Sam's.