Have been a Sam's member for about 20 years...we do not have a nearby Costco. Unit prices at Sam's are far cheaper than regular retail. Some Sam's label clothing is great, too. I bought a pair of Sam's label jeans and a pair of designer name jeans. The Sam's jeans seven years later are still going strong with only the front pocket edges starting to wear. The designer name jeans were far beyond that wear popint after two years. I now wear them when mowing the lawn.

Aldis should not be selling Kirkland products. They are exclusively Costo's products.

Aldi's contracts with third party suppliers, I just verified it.

I would suggest comparison on what you buy & what each stock, as we learned they are different store to store due to demographics. We prefer Costco, for 1 reason you get back your membership if you dont save equal to it. But, we love their Kirklands brands..the sausage lasagna and bourbon chicken is so good! love their produce and meats. Don't know anything about diapers & formula, as that ship has sailed.

46 oz cans aren't large enough?

Midwest, are those dinners in the frozen aisle?

Oh, that sausage lasagna is SOOOO good!

They also carry a really good salmon burger at mine from Trident.

Another advantage of Costco is that they have made arrangements with companies outside of Costco to save their members money on insurance, home repairs, etc. too.

For Peepers - Nope.

all you Costco fans, have you noticed a drop off of availability at your store? Seriously, not one potatoe, of all things, last week when I was there. In fact, the entire lot of produce and fruit was pretty slim pickings.

I caught the tail end (no pun intended) of the Danny Bonaducci show on the radio this AM and they were talking about [censored]. I don't know, I guess there was some type of story in the news about someone breaking wind and people passing out?

I have read that more people are shopping at these places looking for bargains. That might be the reason Truff.

Peepers - Is that you?

pull my finger and find out for yourself

For those with babies (or grandbabies) I've found a super place. Amazon.com! Enroll as an Amazon Mom, then subscribe to shipments of your brand of diapers. I've signed up for a $58 case of Pampers Sensitive #3 (156 ct) and with free shipping it comes to $28. I get a notification a week prior to the shipment that I can cancel for that month or change the size/style or cancel altogether. I have them shipped directly to my kids. Amazon Mom is good for discounts in the Baby Store, so wipes, formula, all that stuff can be subscribed to.

Not at all. The only time the store I go to runs out of something is if they sample it and it is really really good and they sell more than expected.

GL, I do the Subscribe & Save too, it's great! You can use it for all sorts of household items you use on a regular basis. It's like going to Costco, without having to actually GO to Costco.

Amazon Mom plus Subscribe and Save is the ONLY way to go for diapers, wipes, and other baby supplies. My daughter's diapers work out to about half price like GL says. Through Subscribe and Save you can get things like coffee, detergent, lots of household products, really anything at a big discount and have total control of how much of an item, the size, the delivery date, etc. LOVE IT!

Costco is definitely my choice. I went into Sam's once on a trial membership card. The fresh meat was green!!! My husband works for Costco. I called him to tell him about how gross everything was as well as the poor layout. He and a few managers went there within the hour. They had a good laugh. No, in NJ the produce is always fresh and well stocked.

That must have been a pretty bad store! I've never seen that in any of the Sam's that I've been in. Everything has always been fresh as far as the meat, fruit and veggies. My hubby and son like to go to Sam's for the free samples. I always know where to find them!

We have both, my parents have the sams with an extra card for me, and I have the Costco with an extra card for them. It really depends on the store on how well stocked they are. I prefer the Costco, they seem to have more food items and a very decent wine selection. (not that that was my determining factor)

pffft, yeah right

I like Sam's club for 100 count packs of slim jims

Been members of both.

Both have good prices, and decent selection. One determining factor - if you read Consumer Reports, whenever a Costco private brand name (such as Kirkland) is tested, it almost always is rated at the very top and rated a best buy for the combination of price and quality - I've never seen a generic Sams club product mentioned in the top 5.

Another plug for Costco, Clark Howard (radio commentator, specializing in how to live cheaply) regularly mentions Costco as where he finds the best buys in comparing all of the wholesale clubs.

The predominant factor most likely is which is most convenient. I would rather go to Costco, but it is an hour away - Sams is 15 minutes.

Southern Banker, did they do a cost comparison between Costco and Sam's?

Sam's is closer, but Costco isn't that far away so if the prices are the same, I may try Costco when our Sam's membership is up.

Do not forget to factor in the cost of gas to get there at $4+ per gallon it may make a difference if it is 20 miles away.