Costco Australia Membership – all you need to know
Aldi started it off and it looks like Costco is going to finally rock the Australian market. Coles and Woolworths have been screwing us over for so long most Australian’s can’t even remember what true supermarket competition feels like.
Costco opening up in Australia has been something I’ve been excited about for a long time and I know how weird that sounds.
‘Hi my name’s Ozsoapbox and I get excited about big supermarkets…’
Yeah so I’m not going to pickup any ladies with that line but I can’t help it. Costco is going to rock my world.
With butterflies in my stomach, last weekend I rode down to the new Costco being built in Melbourne’s Docklands to see how progress was going and to signup to their membership program.
The building is practically complete from the outside with a fully functioning carpark below.
Costco don’t operate like your standard Coles and Woolworths operation. Shoppers must pay an annual fee for membership and then you are allowed to purchase from the store. Think Campbells Cash and Carry but without the need for an ABN to shop there.
Currently there are two types of memberships on offer;
Business membership is open to all customers with an ABN or proof of business ID and costs $55.
Gold star membership is what most people will be signing up for and is for regular shoppers. Gold star membership costs $60 and has a fruity name. Presumably they called it Gold Star so we don’t feel quite so bad paying $5 more then our business counterparts.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so stupid asking for a membership to somewhere before. Gold Star membership kind of feels like your buying into a retard achievement club or something.
The main difference between the two memberships are the signup requirements and the $5 cost difference. Costco also opens the store up one hour earlier to business membership card holders.
Aside from that the memberships are identical and valid worldwide at all Costco stores. While the upfront cost for membership model Costco use can seem a little strange and almost cult-like (cmon, it’s a shopping club), what you have to ask yourself is are you going to save that $60 over 12 months and wind up in front?
For most shoppers $60 doesn’t go very far so think about just how much you spend weekly and decide if it’s worth it.
Both Business and Gold Star members are also able to nominate an additional card holder under the one account but proof must be provided that you both live at the same address. Proving this means showing them ID from two people that has the same address on it, typically a drivers license.
Additionally Costco members are able to bring guests into the store but I believe only the card holder are able to pay for items being bought. This does seem a bit wanky so I’m not sure how strictly they’ll enforce it.
Stock wise Costco seem to be lining up to stock an absolute monster amount of goods. From what I could see the store is almost finished and MASSIVE. Think huge outer-suburbs Bunnings massive.
From electrical, grocery, IT, clothing, automotive, toys, sports gear, whitegoods, shoes they seem to be going ahead with their vast product ranges offered in other countries. This is absolute stellar news as it means I’ll be able to cut Coles and Woolworths out of my weekly shopping completely, relying solely on Aldi and Costco.
Brand wise they expect to stock mostly national brand we’re familiar with although they will have a selection of ‘house’ brands like Aldi does. Given the absolutely huge range they plan on stocking I personally don’t really care so long as the prices are good.
Currently you can signup to Costco Australia online or in person at their temporary office at 425 Docklands Drive, near the shopping precinct at the Docklands. I did overhear the staff talking about this temporary office being closed this coming Wednesday (22nd July) so I’m not sure what’s happening after that.
Their main building looks close to being finished so I imagine they’ll probably move closer onsite.
There's huge glass panels along the front of the building which had tons of chairs set up inside. Presumably there will be some sort of cafe like Ikea has. Sorry about the glare but they had barriers everywhere and I couldn't take the shot from anywhere else.
Membership does require photo ID and for them to take a photo for your membership card so I’m not exactly sure how online signups work. Presumably you need to go see them in person or fax/email a copy of your identification to them.
Personally I just found it easier to go there. The (American) staff were polite and helpful and signing up took a whole ten minutes. I filled in a basic membership form, showed them my license, had my photo taken with a webcam and my membership card was printed in seconds.
They also handed me a Costco shopping bag freebie… the color scheme might be great if I was buying gay sex toys but somehow I don’t think I’ll be using it any time soon. It’s pretty bleh.
I’ve just received my tax return and was looking at buying a HD 50″ Plasma television sometime closer to Christmas from one of the usual retailers. I’m kind of hanging out to see just how much cheaper Costco is going to be (yes they are going to stock televisions!).
Currently I usually buy two or three of something if it’s a non-perishable and on special anyway so I don’t foresee any problems adjusting to Costco’s buy-in-bulk offers. I’m expecting to save quite a bit over the year and further squash my shopping bill, although I’m not quite sure how I’m going to get everything home on the bike!
Might have to start driving the car again on the weekends (or buy a bicycle trailer!).
It’s great to see some real competition opening up on the Australian market. Aldi was a good start but hopefully Costco and crack the supermarket industry wide open and shake up the massive duopoly we have now. Coles and Woolworths currently just alternate measly specials from week to week and I for one am sick of it.
Bring on Costco!
July 21st, 2009 at 10:13 am Happy Coles Customer(Quote)
I for one am very impressed with all of the great specials Coles has. Woolworths is ok too. At Coles I can feed my family for under $10! Costco will mean having to buy everything in bulk. I’ll be lucky to be feeding my family anything before having to fork out $100 on bulk packets of stuff. Having lived in Canada, I am well aware of how Costco works and it’s certainly not my cup of tea. It may be ok for one off items (like a canoe or a diamond ring if you fancy) but certainly not affordable for me.
July 21st, 2009 at 10:17 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Feeding a family for under $10 at Coles? Are your family eating the cardboard boxes the products come in?
I doubt everyday groceries are going to come in bulk batches of $100 units. Nobody needs hundreds of units of one item at a time.
July 21st, 2009 at 1:33 pm Daniel(Quote)
Browsing http://www.costco.com/ will give you an idea of the product range.
Hmmm. Funeral products.
July 21st, 2009 at 4:36 pm Can't Wait(Quote)
Thanks for tracking this. I’ve lived in the US and cannot wait. You will save $100s on your TV and unlike Aldi, Costco will carry top electronics brands. They won’t have a wide range, just 2 or 3 models/sizes to choose from but if you are a price-driven shopper you won’t be disappointed.
Happy Coles Shopper … glad to hear you are a satisfied with your current options. It’s sad if you honestly can’t afford to buy in bulk – do you ever buy 2 or 3 boxes of cereal at once, when they are on special? If you have a family of 4 or more, you’d find that Costco bulk sizes aren’t really that big – 3 loaves of bread bagged together, a twin pack of family sized frozen lasagnes, a six pack of tinned soup, a kilo of carrots. Not the giant pallets that everyone is expecting it to be!
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:48 am Happy Coles Customer(Quote)
Oz Soapbox – you sound like a troglodyte and obviously don’t look at catalogues and understand the meaning of value do you? Value is buying items in the sizes you need at a good price. Yes, actually there are lots of great recipes featured in Coles and Aldi catalogues where you buy everyhing you need for under $10 and can make really good dishes to feed four.
Enjoy your ‘cheap’ bulk shopping at Costco after you’ve paid your $55 membership fee and travelled all the way to the Docklands and paid for parking. Costco may be right for you, but it’s not right for everyone.
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:48 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
You mean those little cards they have in the produce setion which are basically ‘go buy a jar of some processed crap, 500g of meat and 1-2 veggies’?
Ew no thanks!
You’d find if you bought your meat from a butcher or Vic Market (or any market) it’s a hell of a lot cheaper then Coles ripoff prices.
Just buy what you need monthly and freeze the rest.
You spend less money on petrol as you’re going to the shops less (mostly just for perishables like veggies) and it’s healthier for you then $10 Coles meals.
If this doesn’t work out cheaper then buying Coles in-a-jar meals all the time then you’re doing something horribly wrong.
July 26th, 2009 at 10:22 am Sally(Quote)
I can’t wait for Costco. I have been ripped off for years by Coles etc, so can’t wait to bulk by from Costoc. After living in the US about 9 years ago, I couldn’t believe how cheap bulk buy was. Now with the overinflated prices at Coles, I will be saving thousands of dollars by buy at Costco. Costco, will you just hurry up and open your store, because I want to start saving NOW! It seems I will only then use Coles for emergency items like you would going to a 7-Eleven.
July 26th, 2009 at 6:10 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Hey Sally. Unofficially I’ve heard August 19th but as far as I know Costco haven’t confirmed anything yet. I hope it’s not the 19th as that’s a wednesday!
Might have to take the day off work
.
July 26th, 2009 at 7:09 pm Farmgate(Quote)
anyone who believes they are getting value for money from either coles or woolies is seriously kidding themselves. The sooner additional competitors are opened in our current restrictive market, the better we shall all be.
the mark ups at coles and woolies are unbelievable, and as for their latest attempts to portray themselves as the fresh food people with their market reviews… hilarious.
Short change our primary growers, bring in foreign product grown and treated with god knows what… funny how “fresh” produce from coles or woolies spoils in a matter of days!!!
Crazy if your buying any meat, fruit and vegies from these twats… your local grocer and butcher will be cheaper and offer a far fresher product!
bring on costco…. time for coles and woolies to get serious and offer the consumer a fair go
July 29th, 2009 at 6:57 pm Michael(Quote)
Im a Flight Attendant and visit Costco in the U.S on a monthly basis. Even after a 14 hour flight Crew are on the first Bus with their Wheelie cases to the closest Costco Warehouse. I buy Everything from Vitamins, Detergent, Shampoo, Dips, Cheeses, BRAND name clothing such as Adidas, CK, Levis etc. & Dvd’s. The selection is endless. I can save up to 75% even after converting it into AU$. I will be at Costco on the opening day with and empty car boot, membership Card and a healthy apetite for finally being able to save and stop being ripped off by our sad exuse for Supermarkets. BRING IT ON!
August 1st, 2009 at 9:15 pm marie...(canadian born)(Quote)
(Canadian Born living in Australia) Hi i’m Marie ,as i am a canadian living in Australia,several of my trips to montreal Canada always guaranteed a visit from me to costco…..and wat i say is ABOUT TIME …..we dont know wat we have been missing out on….so WELCOME COSTCO……
August 17th, 2009 at 8:44 am sceptic(Quote)
“Happy Coles Customer” is obviously on Wesfarmer’s payroll, even though he or she will no doubt deny it in his or her next post slagging off the competition.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:23 pm Kathy(Quote)
Interesting. I know very little about Costco but I am deeply in love with Aldi so if the concept’s not dissimilar, I might have to check it out. I basically buy most packaged / cleaning / toiletry things from Aldi, fruit & veg from the greengrocer, bread from the baker, meat from the butcher, and my specialist gluten-free products (I’m a Coeliac) from the gluten free supermarket local to me. I take a big price hit on the gf stuff but that can’t be helped. Doing the rest *not* at Coles or Woolies makes up the difference. If I’m in a hurry or desperate, I occasionally do use the local Coles for top-up shopping but NEVER for fruit & veg – it always spoils too quickly.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:43 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I just got back from there and am heading out with a bigger car (my mini is useless there), have photos and will do a writeup when I get back.
The store is huge, onsite parking was chocablock but the harbour town parking was free so that was ok.
At least 1000 people there I reckon, the line for signups was massive but I just walked right in. Getting a trolley was ridiculously hard too.
Stock wise they are plenty stocked and seem to have everything. From Schwin bicycles, to sony and samsung televisions (they had a led one that was interesting) to every grocery imaginable.
The fridge section was hilarious it’s a giant walk in fridge.. BRING JACKETS.
August 17th, 2009 at 3:09 pm Mark(Quote)
What are the parking fees under the building? Is first hour or so free?
We signed up last Thu on the website so are waiting for our cards … and for the queues to reduce to do the pics.
Some obvious considerations:
- Add parking cost (should be free as barren ‘industrial zone’ location)
- Add fuel and environmental cost (I will try to cycle there first up!?!)
- Add shittylink charges if you use it.
- Do they sell brands or type (eg. we only buy diet passionfruit juice based softdrink in bulk – not the popular fake black stuff)
- Will the frozen stuff fit in my freezer? (not THIS week)
- Do you have the storage space?
- Are they cheaper than majors compared to bulk ‘specials’ (eg. I bought 2 cases of 1 litre smart milk 2%fat for 80c a carton last week) from the supermarket 2 blocks from me.
- The HUGE space you have to walk between products, while good excercise, does nothing for convienence.
After all this I TRULY hope I won’t be disappointed and seek a refund on my membership. I agree the MAJORS have been ripping us off for too long – Aldi brought down prices a bit – hopefull Costco will do it even more – but I doub’t it with only 1 store per city as planned.
Happy shopping.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:44 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Gday mark I’ve just done a 1600 word write up, should answer all your questions and then some! If there’s anything specifically you want to know just leave a comment and I’ll do my best.
Was free today, I think the Costco carpark is permanently free.
You can cycle there, but don’t expect to do any shopping. I’d highly reccomend taking a car for your first visit there.
Shouldn’t be a problem unless you’re coming from the far east. Even then just go up Nepean hwy, turn left at inkerman road, then Canterbury road (next to Albert Park) and then up Montague street, then wundawerriwhatever road (next to Telstra dome or whatever it’s called now) turn right at docklands hwy and you’re there.
For everyone else there’s the ring roads/western highway.
Brand names were there, Pepsi/Coke etc. Coke cans were $13 or so for 30X330ml cans, also in slabs of 600ml, 1.25, 2L etc.
There was a 30X375ml slab of variety drinks, Solo, fanta etc. I think 375ml cans for $13 too. The softdrink area was quite large and I’ve weened myself off it so I tried to avoid that area.
V and Redbull are also available in slabs (I really had to try and avoid them.
Should be right the packs aren’t too big. Some stuff like the pizzas are a bit shit though, who’s paying $15 for one pizza?! Even if it was massive and had lots of topping… still $15 for ONE pizza?!
I have a pantry for groceries but no freezer at the moment. Probably going to buy a proper fridge over the next few weekends. Definately required for Costco shopping.
I didn’t go into the milk fridge as I just bought milk yesterday but from memory it’s $2 for 3L or so?
No it wasn’t very convenient but I’m used to it from shopping at Bunnings. Small price to pay for the range of different products they had under the one roof.
August 17th, 2009 at
[...] Got Costco membership questions? Why not have a read of Costco Australia membership – all you need to know. [...]
August 23rd, 2009 at
[...] trying to decide whether you want a Costco membership or not, why not read my article on Everything you need to know about Costco membership. You can also check out my first impression of Costco on their opening [...]
August 30th, 2009 at 12:37 am David(Quote)
I suspect a lot of the coles and woolworths supporters haven’t been to a supermarket in Europe or North America. Coles and Woolworths are truly awful and they exist in such a rotten state because of their duopolistic market power. By all standards the Australian supermarkets are bottom of the barrel: price, product range, cleanliness, customer service, innovation, etc, etc. They’d be in business about a week in Europe or North America where there is actual competition.
September 5th, 2009 at 3:21 pm Terri(Quote)
Unfortunately to date the savings don’t seem so spectacular at Costco here. There’s nothing that has really caught my attention apart from cheap frozen berries? Everything seems to be on a par with the specials at all the other supermarkets but you have to buy more. Not helpful for many who don’t have additional freezer space, I’d have to say that I felt Costco US and Canada definitely offered better value.
Oz soapbox, is Costco’s meat not up to scratch?
September 5th, 2009 at 5:11 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Be noteful that Coles and Safeway are deliberately marking down items to compete with Costco. Yeah after screwing you over for years they’re now able to price match now that somebody else has a lower fixed price.
The thing about matching the specials is Costco tend to have the same ballpark price all year round, whereas otherwise you’re at the mercy of the Colesworth catalogues. It’s funny how people might whinge about how far away Costco is, but then are happy to wait months for something to go on special just to stock up.
I’ve found their chicken thighs @ $9/kg are excellent. I bought some Beef Eye Round Roast to try, I’d normally buy the diced beef ($7/kg – which is the same as Vic market price) but they sell them in 1.3-1.5kg bulk lots. I buy my meats in 2kg lots (enough for one large dish) and freeze them.
The Beef Eye Round Roast was $10/kg and comes in 2kg trays, looks good and if the chicken is anything to go by should taste good too. I just realised putting it into the fridge though that its use by is in 4 days (9th September) which is a bit crap. I’ll be freezing it anyway but still.
The Whirlpool 445L fridge I was interested has dropped to $949 from $999 so I’ll probably be getting that soon. Someone was asking about top loader washing machines, they are $900 or so and the top loaders are $750′ish. I was off price wise when I went off memory.
September 29th, 2009 at 5:10 pm Mark(Quote)
The frozen berries are good value compared to off season fruit.
The Tri-tip 100 day grain feed beef roast at $9.99/kg is EXCEPTIONAL we have had it twice – after refusing to buy beef from the majors where it is easily dry and tough. And the Vic Market is too inconsistent. Don’t be scared by the fat marbling – it’s what chefs love. Each pack makes 3-4 meals for 2 – so not too large for many. Oz, the use-by is exceptionally short and cautious – which I admire – i had no problem using it a day or 2 later than stated.
Things we went to buy again – of which there was a pallet load on first visit; were gone because they were popular with only the lesser type remaining. So one has to question their restocking process.
Their fruit and veg needs much better quality control. We bought a bag of Oranges that had moldy ones when we got home in it and washed mesculan salad that went off the day after it was opened (the majors have gone away from pre-washed as it shortens it’s shelf life after opening) – on return 3 days later the same salad (useby) was still on the shelf and decidedly sus. Had no trouble returning the rotten stuff for a full refund. they don’t seem to do mark down to clear such items – so waste is an environmental concern.
One staff member told me the management attitude to staff is “our way or the American way” same difference? that’s the point!
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:31 am Roberto(Quote)
I wonder if a new costco is openning in brisbane.Does anyone know about it? thanks.
January 4th, 2010 at 12:02 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
I know there was one planned for NSW next. I guess depending on how long that takes to get going and if they think there’s a big enough market the next state will either be QLD or SA.
Both will probably do pretty well I think, both QLD and SA have a much higher ‘families living in suburbia’ concentration then Melbourne or Sydney.
January 4th, 2010 at 2:19 pm Jo(Quote)
Okay, it’s been a while Costco opens in Melbourne;
I haven’t got the membership yet (thinking to have one, but waiting for everyone’s reply)
so does anyone feels their price are relatively the same with coles / safeway?, especially after you add their yearly fee?
I heard many people says Melbourne Costco not as cheap as in the US one…please correct me if i’m wrong…Thanks
January 4th, 2010 at 3:32 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
The last few trips of mine I did notice prices on some things had quietly snuck up. For example the 1kg mixed salads were originally $3.50 a bag but were approaching $5. The 330ml slabs of coke debuted at $13.50 but were pushing $16-17.
Shopping for one I don’t have the broadest perspective but I assume it’d be a similar situation with other products. Still cheaper then Coles but things like travel time to and from the Docklands become more important factors.
Dollar for dollar, Costco Australia is definitely not as cheap as the US version. Even on a percentage scale vs. other store offerings I think our Costco is still on the higher side.
Of course this is largely due to the buying power Costco has in the US which it doesn’t really have here. It’s also due to the monopolised supply chain distributor systems we have in place in Australia too.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:10 pm Brian(Quote)
it seams that costco is not all that cheap it might be ok if the car park was free and we did not have to pay membership fees, some things might be cheap but you pay the extra in fee’s.