Costco Visit

By Aaron Boma

 

At some point everything you have ever done was done for the first time. This goes for walking, eating, riding a bike, driving, pumping gas by yourself. Any task at one point, was the first time you have ever done it. Obviously this list could and would go on forever, but I want to dial it into something a little more specific and talk about my experience. This first time experience is none other than going to a Costco store. Costco, until I had visited, felt like something of an urban legend. I had heard about the hot dogs; about how everything is cheap; they have everything; it’s like the IKEA of non-IKEA things. People made it sound like if heaven on Earth did exist, it was there.



I will include the disclaimer that it’s possible that I let the expectations get a little too high in my head and was expecting too much, but I will go into detail about how my first Costco experience was not what I expected. When I first walked in, I think it was actually heaven in retail form on Earth. It was big, spacious, it looked like they had everything upon walking in. Then I actually started to look for things to buy. First off, way too many people, they need to start treating these like bars and venues and have some sort of max capacity. I couldn’t look at anything without feeling like I was in someone else’s way. Second, I understand it’s a thing to buy in bulk, but they had no normal-sized portions.




It was either you’re feeding a family of 16 people or you don’t get what you want. I know that’s Costco’s thing, but it feels like maybe there could be some sort of middle ground where they offer normal sizes. Those two mixed together just made it a very overwhelming experience and it didn’t feel like the savings for buying in bulk really offset the circus that was just navigating through the store. Unless I end up with the aforementioned family of 16, I think I am Team Regular Grocery Store from here on out. Go, whatever Chicago team doesn’t stink at the moment.

Aaron J. Boma DTHS, ISU Grad

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