They had both all summer…Unfortunately, they tend to follow the seasonal schedule, which means the camping gear will be put up until next summer.
Sandman, I would have paid 5,000NT for that tent without raising an eyebrow, it’s been that good…3 years ago, during the unavoidable Chinese New year fireworks explosion, a friends dog panicked and tried to jump into our tent. It was closed up though, and the dog ended up on top of the tent stuck under the fly! For the 15 seconds or so that damn mutt struggled to get free, I was envisioning the end of my tent as the 40 pound dog ripped my meshing to shreds…Finally pulled him out of there…Nary a rip or tear. A tough,dry, breathable, light-weight tent I can’t recommend enough…
To avoid parking madness go late at night like 8:30 - 9:00. Costco closes shop at 9:30 so make a quick run and by 9:30 the lines would have gotten shorter as the Costco attendents help with herding people to the checkout line. Also just go straight to parking level 3 if possible <–very handy tip to avoid parking rage. Downside is you are probably one of the last to leave the parking garage.
Definitely try to eat the footlong hotdog/drink for 50nt. Really worth it as you can load as much sodium filled items as you can without making it drip on your clothes when you bite into it. Probably packed on 10 nt of onions, saurkraut, ketchup and mustard.
Can get a box of eggos, nice european weiners, cheap bread, the ready to eat barbeque chicken, tostitos restaurant and lime flavored nachos, Doritos, ice wines, cheaper books and dvd’s, whole pizza for 300nt… ya better not get a membership. You will end up spending more than you want. You will say to yourself that you cannot buy this anywhere else and you must have it. Then you buy it and regret it.
You still need to comparison shop but if you are shopping there for a while you get the idea of which items are a bargain.
The super jumbo packs - They don’t fit in our “standard” frigde, and they last for ages.
We always find so many new and interesting things to buy, that we would never have thought about looking for, so we end up spending twice the planned amount - never left without spending less than 15.000.
Hurray for Costco from a former “Frequent Carrefour shopper”
What bugs me about COSTCO is that many of the western items are slowly dissapearing. Without that, there is little point to COSTCO :s On this point the one in XiZhi is worse than the one in Nei hu.
To get value in TPE you have to segment your shopping:
Fruit, veggies, fish, chicken (only if live) - local wet market - can’t be beat for freshness plus the odd cilantro, basil or chili for free
Staples & Red Meat: COSTCO all the way. Best steaks and lambchops in TWN. Where else can you get 1 gallon of salsa?
Weird European Condiments: Jasons (they’ve got Branstons).
Wine: That Sommelier place next to welcome in Tian Mu
Cooking implements: Next to Xiamen ST on ST next to Taipei Bridge
Deli: I’m still looking for a good deli: G&G is OK. Jason’s is OK (but $$$)
Anyone know a good deli???
A couple of years ago, they nixed the large jars of pickle relish…After conferring with the manager, I was informed that Costco does one huge yearly purchase of all it’s stock. Despite this, when I went back two weeks later, the relish was back, and has been ever since.
Both stores have English speaking staff, you just need to track them down.
Despite Costco being a western chain, they have to evolve and meet local market demands, which means that a lot of the "goodies we love so much are either unknown or unwanted to the local palate. The jist of this is that it is very likely the western food selection will continue to shrink. However, if interest is expressed in a certain product, even if it’s perceived initially as being a dust gatherer, they will consider restocking it. If your beloved product has disappeared from the shelves, ask about it! They are pretty straight up and will tell you if they pulled it due to lack of sales or if they are out of stock. They will also do a cross-store check for you to see if your missing item might be in any of the 3 branches.
Most foreigners will just shake their heads and walk out if something they’re looking for no longer lies on the shelf. Customer feedback is critical for Costco, and if enough interest is generated in a product, they may well bring it back in for you…The upper crust of the Costco hierarchy are almost all Expats/ABC’s, and they’ll be in a good position to relate to the lack of availability of “western goods”.
Foreigners make a far larger percentage of the purchasing public compared to other stores…Take advantage of this.
I also think that payign for the privilege to shop at someone’s store is a rip-off. In the year that we had membership, I saw nothing at Costco that made ti worth it. And even if you pay for the membership, they won’t accept your credit card - have to get one of theirs. I think that pissed me fof even more than the membership fee. con artists.
Michael Botti is correct in saying that you can make your voice heard with the upper crust in Costco and they will sometimes do something about it. I saw some products in a USA Costco that I wanted to be available in Taiwan and emailed them about it. The pres of Taiwan Costco was very attentive to the idea and went after the product for me with the USA offices until they found out that a vendor problem would make it impossible to continue selling the product to Costco. They do listen to their customers needs but the product has to be a Costco sku for them to bring it to Taiwan.
many of the local stores in taoyuan buy their products from costco in bulk, then separate and sell them for at least twice the price (ie you get half the merchandise for the same amount of money). avoiding this by buying directly from costco quickly recoups your initial investment of the membership. i hate paying it myself, especially here, where there are aisles of soy sauce and butt-wipe (are they really cheaper? and how do some people manage to leave with only these two items in their cart? :loco: ) but you gotta cater to the local market.
still, if you want tastes from home, the market is pretty well cornered, and the prices are a reflection of that (and shipping). buy what you really want and can’t find elsewhere, and compare - some things are cheaper outside of the big box.
the novelty of having all these things does wear of after a few trips in too - things like real cheesecake and smoked salmon became less than necessities again for most of us (although the years without were tough), and now i just focus on things that are really cheaper - factoring in the membership/driving/toll booth - and things that i really want every once in a while.
1.5 L bottle of modavi for $605 NT? the 750 ml bottle goes for around $500 here in most stores.
rip-off. In the year that we had membership, I saw nothing at Costco that made ti worth it. And even if you pay for the membership, they won’t accept your credit card - have to get one of theirs. I think that pissed me fof even more than the membership fee.