City Girl Meets Costco

I had my first Costco experience last week. Coming from tiny food markets, specialty stores and one small grocery store, I didn’t know what to expect from the warehouse.

Truly massive containers of everything filled the shelves- salt, peanut butter, hummus, etc… After wondering why anyone would need such massive quantities, I realized what everyone must have in common: STORAGE SPACE. That is certainly one thing that city dwellers lack and constantly envy. Now that I have ample storage space, I was free to join the crowds and buy, buy, buy. Randomly placed free samples of food seemed to attract the shoppers. I think I saw the same guy in different disguises go back multiple times to rock extra crab dip samples.  I’ll have to remember this tip for next time if they’re offering something really good, like anything chocolate.

I wisely kept my first trip short and after being persuaded by the guy at check out to upgrade my brand new membership to the gold star executive level, I pushed my massive cart out to my minivan (yes, I now own a mini van). Now I’m at home with fifteen half gallons of milk in the fridge (seriously), a box of Cheerios that’s the size of my microwave and an eight-pack of Neosporin- some of which I will bequeath to my grandchildren. The take home: I prefer the intimacy and charm of those tiny, overpriced city markets, but I can say that I survived Costco, even accepted it for it’s place in suburbia, and will likely return for more Cheerios one day.