Sam’s Club, Walmart’s answer to wholesale shopping!

Warehouse shopping has gained popularity as rising costs in everything from gasoline to milk, meat to dairy, medicine to photo shop all add up to a bigger burden for budget conscious Americans fighting to just stay afloat. I am one of these consumers. As a restaurant owner and merchant, I have shopped for groceries and supplies almost daily for the past 20 years. Thus, I am well experienced in finding outstanding deals as the result of comparison shopping and warehouse shopping is a great resource.

Sam’s Club is one of these local warehouses, similar to Costco, but different enough to have built a name on it’s own. With only two locations locally, one on 135th and Aurora Ave N. and another in Auburn, customers flock from all around town to buy in bulk and save.

Buying in bulk is great for restaurants and other food service companies, however, it is not for everyone. Savings per item is apparent when buying, for instance, a dozen butter croissants for about $6 or 50 cents a piece.  Any bakery or grocery store sell the french breads for a dollar and up per piece.  But if you are not going to eat a dozen pieces in a matter of a couple of days, it may not be worth the large quantity purchase.

Some of the most popular items that draw people form all over town are:

1) Gasoline (unleaded and premium gas runs an average of 25 cents less that the cheapest brands)
2) Meats: puchase a whole loin of NY steak, slicing an freezing in portions will save a bundle in the long run.  A recent trip had whole loins selling for $5.99 per pound, compared to a local grocery priced at $7.99 per pound.

3) Milk, eggs, and dairy are reasonably priced staples, and at $1.00 for a dozen eggs and  $1.78 for a gallon of milk,  they are easy to have on hand all of the time.

4) Pharmaceuticals are another big seller here.  Sams Pharmacy offers all standard and generic medicines and are almost always priced significantly less than major drug store chains. 

Some other good values that I consistently purchase include whole baked large pizzas in the deli for $9.90, foot long french bread for 50 cents a piece, and a bunch of about 10 bananas for just $1.19.   The list goes on and so does the fun. There is an in-house photo shop, optometrist, tire shop, and pharmacy as well. Great products, outstanding deals, so fun to shop. Yearly membership fees of less than $100 apply, but if you shop more than a few times a month, it can pay for itself in the savings. Happy Warehouse shopping!

Realtor

Helen@SeattlePowerSearch.com

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