Well, we went to the closest Sam’s to us today and they didn’t have any of the rib meat my wife was looking for. More than one person has told her how wonderful it is, so maybe they will have it some other time. We have one year to try them.
Overall, I think I prefer Costco, though I did note some positives about Sam’s. Sam’s sells smaller portions of the bakery items, and they also have a wider variety of both bakery items and pre-prepared meals. The gas prices at the Sam’s and nearest Costco were identical.
On the down side, they don’t have nearly as many of their own branded items as Costco has with its Kirkland brand. And, their food court is not nearly as good, both in terms of selection and speed of service.
On that latter point, I noted that throughout the entire store. At Costco you can see the employees working at a quick pace to keep things moving, whereas there was not that same feeling at Sam’s. At the Costco food court the line may be long, but you can still see it moving and you can also see the employees husting behind the counter. At Sam’s the employees were working at a leisurely pace, and the line moved more slowly. Ditto for the customer service counter.
And, for an obvious difference, Costco is closed on Memorial Day. Sam’s was open for shorter hours. The store was not very crowded either, though I don’t know if that was due to Memorial Day or is the norm.
Granted this was only our first time there, and we will give them a few more tries while we can. Right now, if I had to predict, we will be going to Costco alone after the year has passed.