Non-US residents: Do you have "warehouse clubs"?

[mirth]

Warehouse clubs in the US are stores like Sam's Club, BJ's, and Costco. You can buy either giant sized versions (3 gal jar of pickles) of foods, or maybe 20 cans of peaches packaged together. They do sell fresh foods too, but you do have to buy a lot. Are there stores like this where you live?

 

They sell other stuff too like office supplies and some electronics. But whenever possible, they try to sell big amounts of a single item.

[SproutMamaK]

Yes. We have Costco, Price Club (an earlier division of Costco, but teh stores didn't change their name), and one other whose name I forget. We used to ahve Sam's Club, but about a year ago they shut down all of the Sam's Club in Canada with NO notice. As in, "It's 5 o'clock. Don't come into work tomorrow, because the chain is shutting down. Right now." The employees were NOT amused. Neither was I - Sam's Club rocked!

[TravelingChris]

I am not overseas now but we didn't have any in Belgium, at least not any in the area I lived in.

[Amira]

There aren't any stores like that in Central Asia, but there aren't even any McDonalds. One city in the region did recently get a Pizza Hut and IKEA though.

[swellmomma]

In my area we have Costco here and Superstore which is a Canadian warehouse store. Oh and one called Canadian Warehouse or something like, I have never shopped there. There is no price club in my city, though I do not know about the rest of the province. I know Ontario gets more options for stores than Alberta does, they get more of the American chains than we do it seems.

[Kate in Arabia]

No, but many of the local stores have buy-in-bulk sections where you can get a case of chickpeas, for example.

 

We do have plenty of other chain stores, including IKEA, Ace Hardware, Borders, etc. -- although not in my emirate, mostly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

[JESSICAinMD]

South Korea has Samsclub or at least it did 3 years ago. I think they have costco too.

[JaniceO]

People tell me they have a store called Metro here in Naples, Italy that is like Costco back in the States. I haven't been there so I don't know how closely it actually resembles Costco.

[TwinMominTX]

They have Costco in Taiwan. We got a kick out of shopping there as it was multi-story and had a cart conveyor belt.

[Pata]

We have a Metro and it does resemble a Cosco, sort of :).

[Cammie]

I believe they have Metro here in India but it is much more strictly limited to business people so I have never been!

 

Oh, how I miss Costco. I bet I could compose an Ode to Costco if I put my mind to it!

[stripe]

In some countries, you are easily able to buy at a wholesale rate from regular stores, or just go to certain stores and buy at wholesale rate, if you buy a bunch of something at one time, without having a special store for that.

[Laura Corin]

Not that I know of. Part of the difference is probably storage space: British houses are a lot smaller - where would I keep a 3 gallon jar of pickles?

 

Laura

[Rosie_0801]

Not with electronics or stuff like that, but the next major town over (about 1 1/2 hours away) has two places like that. They sell seconds from the canneries. In fact, we're going there today! They do sell shampoo, garbage bags and some stuff like that, but mainly it's slabs of tinned goods. We're mainly going to buy tinned fruit, because it's cheaper than the local supermarkets and is a convenient way to insert food into toddlers. Plus we don't do milk so we eat that with our museli, so we go through a lot of it.

 

Rosie

[RegGuheert]

There aren't any stores like that in Central Asia, but there aren't even any McDonalds. One city in the region did recently get a Pizza Hut and IKEA though.

Singapore and Japan have McDonalds (neither is in central Asia), but I cannot think of other Asian countries that have them.

They have Costco in Taiwan. We got a kick out of shopping there as it was multi-story and had a cart conveyor belt.

Yes, I saw the Costco in Hsinchu this week. I didn't get a chance to go in, though. I was wondering if my US membership would allow me to gain entry into the store. Did you go in with a friend, or did you use your US membership?

[Amira]

Singapore and Japan have McDonalds (neither is in central Asia), but I cannot think of other Asian countries that have them.

 

There are McDonald's in lots of other Asian countries, like China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, Pakistan and more. Not that it matters to this thread. :)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Japan has Costco. I haven't been but some of my friends enjoy it. I doubt that things come in such huge sizes as housing here is much smaller.

 

In Germany we shopped at Selgros, which was a European chain. Some packaging was in normal sizes. However a lot was packaged for small business like restaurants or small family run hotels. Metro was another similar chain in Germany.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

We used to have a clothing store called "The Warehouse". Well, not quite. It was a different spelling, and if you used French phonics on it, you would pronounce it the same way.

Anyway, the store was forced to change its name because of local laws protecting proper French. It's now called "l'équipeur".

But it's only for clothes.

 

Apart from that, we have Costco too.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Japan has Costco. I haven't been but some of my friends enjoy it. I doubt that things come in such huge sizes as housing here is much smaller.

 

 

 

My Japanese friends tell me that 4 or 5 households will go together on a Costco visit and divvy everything up since there isn't much food storage.

[asta]

I am not overseas now but we didn't have any in Belgium, at least not any in the area I lived in.

 

What about Makko?

 

Oh heck, maybe it was Metro.

 

Whatever - it was a warehouse club.

 

 

a

[Jamee]

Costco in Japan is just like those in the states. Kirkland brand, large, bulk items. LOVE IT! Korea has Costco too, but we never went, however I doubt it's any different. There are no more Wal Marts in Korea, but with all the shopping markets it's not really needed.

 

As for fast food, didn't see Mc Ds in either Cambodia or Vietnam, but Vietnam did have KFC!

[mazakaal]

I live in England, and we do have Costco here, though the closest one to me is about 2.5 hours away. As far as I know we don't have any Sam's Club or an British equivalent.

[Amber in AUS]

We have FAL, you have to technically be a business to qualify for membership as most of the small deli's and corner stores shop there for the stuff they mark up and sell on the shelf. My parents have a card and i go sometimes but often it isn't worth the hassle because i don't have space for giant cartons of toilet paper and tissues etc.

[lailasmum]

There are costco and others like that in the UK but you usually have to either run a business or work for certain larger businesses to get a membership. For example my friends husband works for BT and they automatically get a membership and I have been with her but I couldn't just walk in on my own. There are lots of discount places like Aldi and Lidl where you could easily bulk buy.

 

Also I have friends that bulk buy organic and fairtrade products as a group from a co-operative called Suma. I think there are others companies that do this too.

[keptwoman]

The first Australian Costco opened in Melbourne last August, we are members and I love it!

[Peela]

I heard there might be a Costco opening up in Perth soon.

Meanwhile, there is one "wholesale supermarket" you can go to if you buy memership or are a member of certain associations. I have only been there once- you have to buy bulk- but it wasnt much cheaper for many things...for some, yes.

[Susie in CA]

Yes, Metro is what they have in Austria. That's it, though, as far as I know.

 

Susie

[sgilli3]

The first Australian Costco opened in Melbourne last August, we are members and I love it!

 

I can't wait to hit Cosco's. We will be joining as soon as we touch down! :D

[Hannah]

We have Macro. In the past you had to own or be part of a big business to shop there, but anyone can now register for membership at the front desk.

 

They have office supplies, sports gear, some clothing, toys etc in addition to the bulk grocery section. Some things are cheaper and others are the same as regular supermarket prices.

 

Ours is more than an hour's drive away and I have popped in while in the area, but I wouldn't drive just to go there.

[SusanAR]

There is only Costco in the Philippines; it is in Manila. Doesn't help if you lived on another island because it cost too much to ship your purchases, but you could at least buy a few creature comforts:001_smile:

Jakarta, Indonesia had one also, but then again it doesn't help much if you live elsewhere.

[Laura Corin]

Singapore and Japan have McDonalds (neither is in central Asia), but I cannot think of other Asian countries that have them.

 

There were several of each in the provincial city where we used to live.

 

Laura

[myfunnybunch]

There are Costcos in Mexico. Dh says the Costco in Puerto Vallarta was exactly like our Costco, except everything was in Spanish. Very crowded, too, just like home.

 

Cat