Earlier this month, I spotted a Nikon D7000 D-SLR camera kit at Costco selling for $1,799.99. It sold out fast because I didn’t see it when I returned two weeks later.
The box includes the D7000 camera body, an 18-200mm VR II NIKKOR lens and a 4 GB SanDisk SDHC memory card. You will also get a camera bag and some extras.
The in-store price is the same as on their website, though Costco online is out of stock as well.
The New York Times has an interesting comparison between Amazon and Costco, my two favorite stores: Amazon’s Subscription Service vs. Costco. While the author complains about the time lost shopping at Costco, I love that store because its a great place to add steps to the pedometer, particularly in inclement weather. Oh, and I can also get some shopping done at the same time.
My only complaint about Costco is that outside of some staple items, the availability of their other products is far from guaranteed. For example, I recently headed to the local Costco for some parchment paper. I knew the exact aisle it was located in, but when I arrived there, it was gone. Not just out of stock, but discontinued.
Costco is selling the Le Creuset 4 1/4 Quart Cast Iron Soup Pot for $144.99. The same product from Amazon, though via a 3rd party, goes for around $200.00.
I had already picked up a cast iron pot a few months ago from Costco for much less. I really like the KitchenAid Cast Iron Dutch Oven, though I see that Costco is now selling its own cast iron dutch oven for much less.
I’ve been looking for a digital kitchen scale for some time now when I came upon one at Costco. With the New Year, Costco offers healthy eating and exercise equipment to keep up with all the new resolutions of their dear members.
So, Costco was selling the Polder Slimmer Digital Kitchen Scale for $18.99, a price low enough to qualify for an impulse buy. I’m not really into measured portions or any of that nonsense. Instead, some bread recipes offer ingredient lists by weight instead of volume, supposedly for increased accuracy.
Anyways, the scale disappointed. Once I was able to remove it from the industrial strength plastic packaging and inserted the batteries, I was confronted with a cryptic “out2” message where the weight should be displayed. No amount of careful reading of the instructions or internet searches could deliver me an answer. So, I promptly returned the item. First time that I’ve ever seen an item from Costco fail out of the box.
I had known about Smart & Final for about 20 years, but had not set foot inside an actual store until last month. Basically, Costco and a few other stores offered pretty much everything I needed so I never had the need to visit another warehouse store. However, since a Smart & Final was located in a shopping center I was already visiting, I decided to drop in for a quick peak.
Shopping at a new store was disorienting since I wasn’t sure where everything was located or what the exact product mix that Smart & Final offered. I finally focused on one product that is near and dear to my heart, and which I knew was sold at Smart & Final and Costco: Nutella.
So, Smart & Final sells a 26 oz jar of Nutella Hazelnut Spread with Skim Milk & Cocoa for a Club Buy price of $6.99. Costco sells a 2×26.5 oz. jars of Nutella Spread for $8.79. You don’t even have to be a math major to figure out which one is the bargain.
I’ve been considering GelPro Chef’s Mat as a replacement for the carpet runner I’ve been using in the kitchen. The carpet runner was relatively inexpensive at Costco, but it had been consistently getting dirty and may have made one too many trips into the washer such that the rubber back has started to break down. Not good.
>Anyways, Costco sells the 20″ x 48″ GelPro Chef’s Mat for $89.99. Bed Bath & Beyond was selling the slightly shorter 20″ x 36″ GelPro Chef’s Mat for $99.99 and the longer 20″ x 72″ GelPro Chef’s Mat for $199.99. Amazon sells the GelPro Mat
Costco is selling Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats. $4.79 for a 72 ounce bag, which comes to $0.067 per ounce. If you buy direct from Bob’s Red Mill, a 54 ounce bag costs $4.33, which is $0.080 per ounce.
Before I purchased Steel Cut Oats from Costco, I had only tried the more traditional form of Oatmeal. The big difference is that Steel Cut Oats takes a bit longer to cook and has a chewier texture. My favorite recipe is to prepare it the night before. I place one 1 cup of Steel Cut Oats with 4 1/2 cups of water into the crock pot. The next morning, I add some milk to thicken, 1 tsp of vanilla extract and a banana that has been sauteed in butter. Run the mixture through a hand blender to incorporate.
I love shopping at Costco. One of the true joys of a Costco membership is the weekly treasure hunt. Every once in a while, I will come across a new product that I have never heard of. Last weekend, I spotted the Verilux UVC Sanitizing Wand.
This magic wand, all for a one-time easy payment of $67.99, supposedly kills H1N1, MRSA, viruses, dust mites, flea eggs, influenza, mold, germs, bacteria and allergens. The package comes with a UV-C Sanitizing Wand and a UV-C Sanitizing Travel Wand.
If you are interested, read the reviews for the CleanWave UV-C Sanitizing Wand and UV-C Sanitizing Travel Wand Combo Pack at Amazon. 
Back in July of 2008, Costco was selling a Sony 46″ 1080P Bravia LCD HDTV (KDL46WL135) for $1,999.99.
Fast forward 18 months later, Costco now sells a Sony 46″ 1080P LCD HDTV (KDL46VL150) for $799.99.
Had I known that 60% fall in prices were in store, I would have waited it out. But for those that haven’t made the digital switch, your patience has been rewarded.
Last summer, I found a San Francisco Bay Area Target selling a 6 lb tub of Oxi Clean for $8.49, which reflected a temporary price cut off the $9.99 regular price. So, is $9.99 the real regular price? During the winter break, I was able to shop at a Southern California Target. I wasn’t really focused on the temporary price cut v. regular price issue, though it is good to know that items marked as discounted are truly discounted even if they are not discounted to a Costco level. I really wanted to figure out whether Target and other large retail stores varied their prices by regions, much like the gas stations. Turns out, that is not the case, at least for this item.
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