Gas Prices
Costco | Prairie Lakes
5/10/2012
Costco has earth moving equipment on their property so it looks like they will be starting construction soon. In the photo, below, you can barely see the equipment with the Target store in the background and the open field in the foreground.
4/18/2012
Costco should start "moving dirt" in early May 2012. Opening date is set for October 13th. (I'll bet that is flexible.) Hard to believe what we have looked at as vacant land and farm land being turned into a store and Prairie Lakes Shopping Center but this has been coming for the last eight years. Just a matter of time. Don't know if it will be good or bad for the Providence neighborhood. Hoping for good.
2/18/12 We had never been to a Costco Store before, so, since our membership at Sam's Club is running out next month and a new Costco is being build a short way away from our home, we decided to check out the Costco on the West Side of Madison, Wisconsin, not far from Sam's Club on the West side. First we shopped at Sam's since they open up early and Costco doesn't open until 10 am. Quite late, really. But, I guess, if they are in my neighborhood, that is better than early. We got there shortly after 10 am and the parking lot was maybe half full. When we came out about 30 minutes later, the parking lot was almost full.
Gas prices were a full ten cents cheaper than what you can get without a membership somewhere else. That is pretty good, although we are not back in the 60's where ten cents would have made a difference. Now, when you are paying $3.50 per gallon, what good is saving 10 cents a gallon? Not much.
Went inside and you can look around without being a member but they catch you at the door and tell you to go to the "desk" and register as a visitor. I saw a lot of people walking out without anything in a bag so maybe they were "shoppers" or visitors like us.
Since we had just stocked up at Sam's Club, we had receipts with us to compare prices. Overall, everything compared favorably. Butter was $7.69 for 4 pounds at Costco and the same at Sam's. Same thing is gong for about $10 for 4 pounds at Copps in Sun Prairie. Marie Calendar Chicken Pies, 9 oz. each were, 8 pack, were $10.35 for Sam's and Costco. Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty 2 rolls, 150 sq. ft. was $12.19 at Costco and $12.20 at Sam's. Shredded Mozzarella part skim Cheese, 5 pounds, was $10.45 at Costco and $10.66 at Sam's. Canola oil, 5 qt, was $8.29 at Costco and $9.88 at Sams. Tide powder, Original, 254 oz. was $29.99 at Costco. The 225 oz at Sam's was $26.98. Why the two different sizes at two different stores? Just to confuse the customer and make comparisons difficult, no doubt. So Tide was $00.1181 per ounce at Costco and $00.1199 per ounce at Sam's Club. House brand toilet paper is difficult to compare. At Costco you get a package of 2 ply, 425 sheets per roll, 30 roll package for $14.99 per package. that is $.001175 per sheet. At Sam's Club you get 2 ply, 36 rolls, 220 sheets per roll for $16.83 per package. Comes to $.002125 per sheet. How the sheets perform is the question.
Overall impression of Costco was that there is no reason to go all the way to the other side of Madison to get to a Sam's Club store. Prices are comparable. Credit cards have to be Costco or American Express. You need a Costco card in order to use their gas station. You can purchase from their Pharmacy without a membership card but that is all. At present, membership costs $55 for a regular or a business membership. I always liked where business members got in early at Sam's Club. The tire service absolutely went down hill at Sams in the last year or so. I had purchased new tires there about two years ago. They were back ordered for about three months but I could wait. Then I would get rotation and rebalancing every six months. I went for rebalancing about 6 months after purchase and I was the first customer in that department. First in line after waiting for the service people to get in 15 minutes late. Then they took another two hours to take the tires off, re-balance them and then remount them. Given this poor service, I would recommend that NOBODY purchase tires from Sam's Club. I can only hope that Costco is more customer oriented.
One nice thing about Costco is that you can return anything, no questions asked. Try to do that at Office Depot. Ha!
1/15/2012
Costco is scheduled to start construction in April 2012 with opening in Fall of 2012
Costco | Prairie Lakes Property Layout Map
12/7/11 The proposed Costco Discount Store in the Prairie lakes Shopping Center received conditional approval from the Sun Prairie City Council. Costco will need to submit plan revisions and get permits before the project can be started.
12/5/11
The proposed Costco Discount Store in the Prairie lakes Shopping Center received approval from the Sun Prairie Planning Commission by an 8-0 vote. It appears as though this is locked in. The 148,000 sq. ft. store and gas station will be located at the corner of Hoepker Road and Triumph Drive on the 17 acre parcel on the West side of Hwy 151. The proposal will go before the Sun Prairie City Council on Tuesday December 6th.
11/1/11
The proposed Costco Discount Store in the Prairie lakes Shopping Center is scheduled to be discussed by the Sun Prairie Plan Commission during its Nov. 22, 2011 meeting.
Costco Price Codes
The key is in the cents digits.
You will see pricing with the cents as 99 cents, 79 cents, 97 cents. What does this tell you?
Regular priced items usually end in 99 cents.
Items that must be cleared out end in 97 cents.
Items that end in 79¢, 49¢ or 89¢ mean that Costco got a special price from the manufacturer.
If you see an asterisk * in the upper right corner of the price sign, that means that the item is not being reordered. Doesn't mean a markdown but it means, when it is gone, it is gone.
(From Wikipedia.com)
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. As of July 2009 it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world. As of October 2007, Costco is the largest retailer of fine wine in the world.
Membership Only
Costco is only open to members and their guests, except for purchases of liquor and gasoline in some US states because of state laws; and prescription drugs because of federal law. Memberships must be purchased in advance for one year (as of May 5, 2007). Purchases made at Costco's website do not require a membership; however, a 5% surcharge is added to purchases made by non-members. Purchases made with Costco Cash Cards also do not require a membership, and there is no surcharge. Canadian and United States Costco locations only accept American Express, PIN-based debit cards (Interac in Canada), cash, checks, and now EBT cards (food stamps). While Costco welcomes members to bring up to two guests, only the members may pay for items. American Express is the only accepted credit card (in the United States, Canada, and Japan) because they charge Costco very low interchange fees (a percentage of revenue from total sales made); as Costco's margins are low in comparison to other retailers. Costco accepts Flexible Spending Account (FSA) debit cards for qualifying purchases at the pharmacy and optical departments in the US. Costco.com accepts the American Express, Visa, MasterCard, and Discover cards. The website also accepts Bill Me Later accounts for payment.
As of November 2011 membership fees at Costco are $55 per year for a Gold Star (individual) or Business membership, which can be upgraded to Executive membership for an additional $55 per year. Along with the additional benefits the executive membership offers (e.g. car purchasing savings, home loans, car insurance, check printing services) Executive members also receive an annual "2% Rewards Check" of up to $750.00 from Costco on all purchases made, excluding select items such as gasoline, tobacco, stamps and in some states, alcohol.
Return policy
Costco memberships can be refunded in full at any time before they expire. Costco guarantees almost all of their products with a full refund within a reasonable amount of time. Exceptions include televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, digital audio players, and cellular phones; these may be returned within 90 days of purchase for any reason for a refund. After 90 days those returns must be done through the manufacturer according to the terms of the warranty. Costco has negotiated with manufacturers to extend the manufacturers warranty to two years for new TVs and computers (five years on TV's sold by Costco in the UK). Costco also offers a free "concierge" service to members who purchase electronics, to help answer questions regarding setup and use and avoid potential returns due to not understanding how to use the products.
Over the years, Costco has gradually expanded its range of products and services. Initially it preferred to sell only boxed products that could be dispensed by simply tearing the shrinkwrap off a pallet. It now sells many other products that are more difficult to handle, such as fresh produce, meat, dairy, seafood, fresh baked goods, flowers, clothing, books, computer software, vacuums, Home appliances, home electronics, solar panels, jewelry, tires, art, fine wine, hot tubs, furniture and caskets. Many warehouses have tire garages, pharmacies, hearing aid centers, optometrists, photo processors, and gas stations. Optometrists working at Costco locations will see patients without Costco memberships.
Costco Optical ranks as the fourth-largest optical company in the US. A membership is required to fill a prescription at the optical department.
Some locations have liquor stores, often kept separate from the main warehouse in order to comply with liquor license restrictions. In some states (such as Texas), the liquor store must be owned and operated by a separate company with separate employees. In 2006, Costco lost a lawsuit against the state of Washington in which it was seeking to purchase wine directly from the producer, bypassing the state retail monopoly. In Australia, Costco has to comply with regulations set by each state they choose trade in; their first store in the state of Victoria benefits from some of the most liberal alcohol licensing laws in the country, with retailers permitted to sell alcohol on shelves within the store, in a manner similar to most European countries, yet they have chosen to have a separate checkout within the liquor section.
While some former Price Club locations in California and the northeastern United States are staffed by Teamsters, the majority of Costco locations are not unionized. The non-union locations have revisions to their Costco Employee Agreement every three years concurrent with union contract ratifications in locations with collective bargaining agreements. Similar to a union contract, the Employee Agreement sets forth such things as benefits, compensations, wages, disciplinary procedures, paid holidays, bonuses, and seniority. As of March 2011, non-supervisory hourly wages ranged from $11.00 to $21.00 in the United States, $11.00 to $22.15 in Canada, and £6.28 to £10.50 in the United Kingdom. In the US, eighty-five percent of Costco's workers have health insurance, compared with less than fifty percent at Walmart and Target.
Product-demonstration (e.g., food samples) employees work for an outside company. In the western U.S., the company is called Warehouse Demo Services, Kirkland, Washington. Costco also uses Club Demonstration Services, based in San Diego, California. In Canada, demonstrations are done exclusively by Professional Warehouse Demonstrations.