Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Sat 20 Feb 2010 06:04:20a, George Shirley told us...
>
>> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>> On Fri 19 Feb 2010 06:11:39p, George Shirley told us...
>>>
>>>> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>>>> On Fri 19 Feb 2010 05:11:29p, Cindy Fuller told us...
>>>>>
>>>>>> Ranee's post about the non-availability of good kosher hot dogs at
>>>>>> Costco brought up an interesting sidebar. She said that she and
>>>>>> Rich had let their Costco membership lapse. The SO and I have
>>>>>> debated for years about the value of getting a Costco membership. I
>>>>>> briefly had a Sam's Club membership many years ago, but I let it
>>>>>> lapse because there wasn't one nearby when I moved from Dallas to
>>>>>> Ithaca in 1986. Our neighbors are big Costco aficionados, and my
>>>>>> relatives back east are devotees of BJ's and Sam's. To my thinking,
>>>>>> a membership doesn't make much sense for the two of us. We don't
>>>>>> have oodles of space to store large quantities of stuff. Anyone in
>>>>>> a small household want to chime in one way or another?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Cindy
>>>>>>
>>>>> For the two of us it's hard to justify a Costco membership, too. We
>>>>> don't have a lot of storage space for large quantities, either, and
>>>>> the few large containers of items I have bought don't really justify
>>>>> the cost of the membership. Two people can only consume so much
>>>>> unless they entertain frequently, have family stopping by often, etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't know how often you can get a "guest card" at Costco, and I
>>>>> believe there's a dollar limit on purchases, but you might try that.
>>>>> Our membership has expired, and I think I'll try getting a guest card
>>>>> next time. That would probably suffice for our needs, and since
>>>>> there are two of us, we could each get a guest card at different
>>>>> times.
>>>>>
>>>> We had a Sam's Club membership for years, we let it lapse last year as
>>>> we could see no cost benefit in shopping there. The only bulk things
>>>> we bought and used were toilet paper, paper towels, and laundry
>>>> detergent. I did a cost comparison and decided it was cheaper to shop
>>>> at the nearby supermarket than to drive the twenty mile round trip to
>>>> Sam's. We also don't shop at Walmart, even though it is only two miles
>>>> away. I object to the pushing and shoving of the crowds of people in
>>>> there and getting heel knocked by some good old girl who is in a big
>>>> hurry.
>>>>
>>> We do shop at Walmart, but only for items that are clearly the best
>>> price, or a few store brands that we prefer. We only go there during
>>> non-peak hours, early in the morning or well into the evening. No
>>> crowds then. We generally buy laundry products and surface cleaners at
>>> Big Lots. The rest of our purchases are at a variety of supermarkets,
>>> and David scours the ads for specials on things we would normally buy.
>>> Luckily, all the stores we shop at are within a 3 mile radius of our
>>> house, so we really don't waste money driving from place to place.
>>>
>> The local Walmart is open 24 hours a day. We have a large shift work
>> population due to all the hydrocarbon processing plants and the place is
>> nearly always crowded beyond belief. We shop at Big Lots anytime we
>> drive the ten miles into the big town nearby. I coupon and run the ads
>> but nearly always shop at the local Kroger as they send me coupons every
>> week or so that make it harder to shop elsewhere.
>>
>
> Our Walmart is a 24/7 operation, too, but we don't have the shift worker
> problem you have. If I happen to go really early or really late at night,
> I see more employees than customers. :-) All the supermarkets are so close
> by that we mainly shop at whatever one has the best specials, sometimes all
> of them since they're so close. Big lots, too, is only 2 miles away.
>
And Phoenix area has how much population? Our little town has four
markets; Kroger, Brookshire Brothers (a Texas chain), Market Basket
(fancy name for locally run co-op stores), and a Misses. Misses is
strictly local, their ancestors were Maronite Christians who immigrated
here from what is now Lebanon but was just part of Greater Syria in the
early twentieth century. Good people but just barely hanging on. That's
it. Kroger is a mile from our home, very well run, clean, lots of stuff,
the others not so much. Market Basket is actually closer and I
occasionally shop their sales; Brookshire Bros. is about five miles away
and nothing any better than what is closer.

Seems that as I age, if it ain't convenient I don't go. <G> Besides
Kroger never changes the position of the food on the aisles, Walmart
does it once a week or sooner to encourage impulse buying, one of their
strategies.