See the thread on the cult page itself: Costco Canada.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CostcoCanada/comments/1nb7aj1/are_you_still_buying_canadian_at_costco/
People are dropping their Costco memberships, and slowly weaning their shopping habits away from the American Bank owned: Costco. This is still the minority viewpoint as seen in the comments. But our education campaigns are slowly shifting the tides!
Remember, Costco is an American cult.
The same herd mentality that brought sheep into Costco’s doors will bring them out, and onto a Canadian run option.
Costco has no direct Canadian wholesale competitor, yet.
But I have a sense that’s going to change very soon. Costco is absolutely ripe for Canadian disruption. Go Leafs!
The few times that I gave Costco a try, their grocery items were always more expensive than regular grocery stores. It never made sense to me.
And not having to visit their store in a cyclist-hostile area to battle their parking lot saves times, which is worth more than any potential savings.
Maybe they offer better deals for non-food items? Not sure.
That said, for me, it’s Canadian for most non-food items, and our local Canadian grocery stores for foodstuff.
I should probably have been more precise; their produce prices are generally roughly equal, plus or minus a bit, but the produce quality is almost always great, and it’s easy to return if/when you get a rare dud.
Any other food item is almost always cheaper: dairy and other refrigerated foods, meat (great quality), non-perishable food, etc.
If you’re happy to buy in bulk quantities, I haven’t found any good alternatives to Costco.
Ah, it’s probably because I don’t eat animal products, so this additional context is helpful.