I live in Taoyuan with no car, which is the easiest to go to? Fro Taipei main station, anyone have directions?
Do you plan to take a bus, or taxi or what? Be sure BTW to bring lots of plastic bags with you, as Costco does not provide bags. You need a paid membership too, did you know that?
That said, Costco at Minquan is not on the MRT line. Give us more details, do you mean Nangang/Xizhi Costco or Minquan bridge, and do you mean by taxi or bus or what, and we’ll provide details.
Going to Costco from Taoyuan on the train and such is not worth it. You will not be able to buy much at all (Costco things are generally big), it’s far (by transit, allow 2-3 hours each way) and you’ll have to pack everything home again on buses and trains. I have never even considered the train etc option. It’s just not practical. Your best bet is to get some friends together and split a cab (about 800 each way) or tag along with a friend who owns a car. This way you cut the time down needed to get there immensely and you have some trunk space for what you are buying.
I live out Taoyuan way also.
To be honest I wouldn’t make the effort for a couple of things, unless you desperately need something from there. If you’re talking MRT, I assume you are only getting a couple of things. IF you’re getting a shit load, then sort out a cab, If you post here that you want to split a cab then I know you’ll probably get someone from out here that will come with you…
just an idea anyway.
There is no practical way to get there by bus or train and have any room to carry anything home.
Besides, the second you walk in the place you’ll drop 10 grand. Find some Taoyuan folks who are heading up and bum a ride from one of them…I know for a fact that at least ten of use make the pilgrimmage on a regular basis.
It’s worth the trip…
There’s a new Costco in JongHe in the southwest of Taipei (Taipei County).
Take the Nanshijiao subway and get off at JINGAN, then take a taxi ($70).
This Costco opened in February and is laid out and stocked just like the latest
US ones. Though, its a bit costlier, due to shipping. Actually, not all the taxi
drivers know where it is, so keep asking until you find one who does.
Two questions:
-
How much is a membership to Costco?
-
The Costcos in Japan will deliver your goods to your door the next day for only 500 yen. I guess the Costcos in Taiwan don’t provide this service?
answer to question 1:
$1200 NT, which is an annual membership I believe.
[quote=“Shenme Niao”]There’s a new Costco in JongHe in the southwest of Taipei (Taipei County).
Take the Nanshijiao subway and get off at Nangan, then take a taxi ($70).
This Costco opened in February and is laid out and stocked just like the latest
US ones. Though, its a bit costlier, due to shipping. Actually, not all the taxi
drivers know where it is, so keep asking until you find one who does.[/quote]
This will still require a huge expenditure of time for someone from Taoyuan (though actually less than their Neihu branch). I’ll alter your directions a bit to suit someone coming from Taoyuan: Get off the train at Banqiao station and take a cab from there (about 100nt). The address is ZhongHe city, ZhongShan road section 2, number 347. Costco in Chinese is Hao3Shi4duo1.
I still recommend either getting some friends together and splitting a cab from Taoyuan or finding a friend with a car to take you. Actually, my Costco runs were one of the biggest factors in my decision to get a car. Costco items are big and you’ll want to buy a lot (trust me, you will). You won’t be able to pack very much home with you on the train, and if you do it will be inconvenient and a pain to say the least–and forget about freezer foods.
I meant to say JINGAN not NANGAN. I agree though that its better to get a car to go there. They don’t deliver like IKEA does. And that new one has parking underneath.
I don’t think it is worth the hassle. We went to Costco a month ago. Bought just a couple of things. I don’t think it is any cheaper than RT Mart, Tesco, or Carrefour. Maybe some things are, and some are more expensive. I bought some shampoo at Costco, afterwards we went to RT Mart, and I saw the same stuff for much less. Their deals on Orange juice is good though. I also live in Taoyuan, I have a car, but driving their just for some orange juice and paying NT$ 1200 a year is just not worth it.
Things you can only get at Costco:
Decent cuts of meat.
Cheap Chips and dips
Decent avacados
Canadian (Granville Island) beers
Cereals
Almond Roca
Frozen field berries
Pancake mix
small aplliances are reasonably priced, such as my new Braun coffee grinder.
Cheese
Well worth the trip. From Taoyuan, take MRT to Jing An or NanShi Chia, just as close either way. Bring a large backpack and a couple of large carry bags. If you can’t arrange a ride, then drop the 7-800 on a taxi back home. At least you are already in the southwestern part of the city, so it shouldn’t be too bad. 
I make a big trip there once a month. My freezer is jampacked with nice NZ strip sirloin, chicken legs, ground beef and lamb chops. I can whip delicious fruit smoothies up or pancakes in the blink of an eye.
:bravo:
I’ll do a top up run for things like beer and pop. I liek to cook and eat well. My budget for food is about 12-15K a month. We dropped 11K last week (incl. a new Braun Blender) and the lady behind us admonished her daughter not to ever spend that much when shopping. She even had the audacity to call my g/f crazy. :loco:
Gotta love Costco. 
I guess I just don’t have any need for those things mentioned above. So that is why I wasn’t too thrilled about this place and could not understand all the hype.
Just make sure you go during the week, otherwise people there will drive you crazy.
IMHO, all chains have a few loss-leader items cheap to get you into the store.
I guess at Costco its batteries, roasted chickens, and pizza.
In the US, Costco is often actually inexpensive. This is not really true here in Taiwan, except for a few specific items.
Here I think the appeal is more getting stuff you rarely see in Taiwan, or at least all at the same store.
For example its a good place to select from a variety of 2 pound hunks of cheese and not exceed the new NT$30,000 ATM transfer limit.
Agree that its better to go on weekdays, early if possible, rather than weekends. Though, I was at the new store on a weekday evening and it wasn’t too crowded, maybe because it was raining, or because the store is still new and undiscovered.
[quote=“Shenme Niao”]There’s a new Costco in Zhonghe in the southwest of Taipei (Taipei County).
Take the Nanshijiao subway and get off at JINGAN, then take a taxi ($70).
This Costco opened in February and is laid out and stocked just like the latest
US ones. Though, its a bit costlier, due to shipping. Actually, not all the taxi
drivers know where it is, so keep asking until you find one who does.[/quote]
Are you saying that they carry items that the other Costcos in Neihu or Shijr do not carry? If so, what items?
As a regular patron of all 3 over the last 6 months, I see no difference in product lines. That said, they are often out of some items that I really like (saltines, Fuze juice).
There is parking at all 3. And last Saturday at 5:00PM, we drove right in, found ample parking by the entrance to the store (Chong Ho) and waited 2 minutes for a cashier.
Even the hotdog line was only 2 deep.
I also remember it being pretty easy to navigate the aisles (or isles for Mordeth).
Chong Ho however, did not put in those gawdawful magnetic moving sidewalks that take forever. No sir! You ramp it up and down.
[quote=“The Gumper”]
Zhonghe however, did not put in those gawdawful magnetic moving sidewalks that take forever. No sir! You ramp it up and down.[/quote]
YAY :bravo: It seems people here don’t know how to continue walking on those things, so instead of increasing the flow, it’s reduced :loco: Same at the airport :s
[quote=“truant”][quote=“The Gumper”]
Zhonghe however, did not put in those gawdawful magnetic moving sidewalks that take forever. No sir! You ramp it up and down.[/quote]
YAY :bravo: It seems people here don’t know how to continue walking on those things, so instead of increasing the flow, it’s reduced :loco: Same at the airport :s[/quote]
Well, if you are pushing a cart, you can’t keep walking. You are stuck to the sidewalk.
And the cart+family dimensions negate any pedestrian play-thru.
[quote=“The Gumper”]
Well, if you are pushing a cart, you can’t keep walking. You are stuck to the sidewalk.
And the cart+family dimensions negate any pedestrian play-through.[/quote]
Indeed, I should have clarified that. I’m talking about cartless people, the ones that turn around with the “WTF!” look when I walk up behind them trying to go past.
this coming from the kind of person (the woman) who spends $1200 a year so they can go to costco and buy soy sauce and toilet paper . HELLO!! you will trip over that crap in every bloody store in taiwan, but every time i go, i see the same thing. then they stare at the items in your cart (and i laugh at point at the soy sauce).