Costco

[maninjapan]

Wow - everytime I go to this place I end up spending an absolute fortune! Today I spent 35,000 yen - but its all so yummy! What do you buy when you go to Costco?

[IkemenTommy]

Beer and a 5 gallon jug of cupie squirt:domo:

[Taro Toporific]

What do you buy when you go to Costco?

BAGELS! 6+6 in two bags for 700 yen

There are three Tokyo locations as well as ones in Hyogo and Fukuoka.
If you don't live near a Costco, you can also order Costco products via TheFlyingPig.com . A good Costco Japan overview is found at the homepage
http://www.globalcompassion.com/costcojapan.htm


The all-important maps and directions...
Tamasakai Costco (north Machida)
Costco Yokohama (Kanazawa Seaside)
Costco Makuhari(Chiba)

Also...
Costco Amagasaki (Hyogo)
Costco Hisayama (Fukuoka)

Good news, f'cked news...

The bad news...
Costco Japan is becoming Japanese and they're steadily increasing their prices every few months to slowly match Japanese prices. Their cheese prices have doubled in the past two years.

Good news...
Costco Japan is always willing to hire gaijin. The wages are in line with typical retail shit jobs but Costco is willing to overlook poor Japanese speaking abilities.
http://www.costco.co.jp/eng/emp.htm

[maninjapan]

really cheese has doubled? christ and there is me thinkin 4 quid was cheap for a kilo of cheese!

[maninjapan]

BAGELS! 6+6 in two bags for 700 yen

good man bought 24 today - my god I love bagels and pastrami

[drpepper]

Cheese has not doubled for me... same price as it was 2 years ago... beef though.. that aussy crap is waaaay to expensive for the crap that it is. Bagels are good buy and the big bags of breasts are good too (chicken breasts.. the other kind are too much for the size)..

[maninjapan]

Cheese has not doubled for me... same price as it was 2 years ago... beef though.. that aussy crap is waaaay to expensive for the crap that it is. Bagels are good buy and the big bags of breasts are good too (chicken breasts.. the other kind are too much for the size)..

Also don't forget the wine - hence the signature - lots of cheap quality wine there!

[Taro Toporific]

really cheese has doubled? christ and there is me thinkin 4 quid was cheap for a kilo of cheese!

The JCostco sock-suckers upped the price for 1kg from 650yen to 1200yen for sharp cheddar in the past two years.
Also those Cost-holes charge on a sliding scale the more "yellow" their 1kg Costco-brand cheese is (white, jack, mild cheedar, sharp cheedar used to be all the same price for 1kg of the house brand). They used to sell a whole damn wheel of bris cheese for 990yen and now it's 1,300yen for a half wheel. Arrrrg.

[maninjapan]

The JCostco sock-suckers upped the price for 1kg from 650yen to 1200yen for sharp cheddar in the past two years.
Also those Cost-holes charge on a sliding scale the more "yellow" their 1kg Costco-brand cheese is (white, jack, mild cheedar, sharp cheedar used to be all the same price for 1kg of the house brand). They used to sell a whole damn wheel of bris cheese for 990yen a
and now it's 1,300yen for a half wheel. Arrrrg.

na sorry bought a kilo of extra sharp for 890 yen today

[Taro Toporific]

na sorry bought a kilo of extra sharp for 890 yen today

Where? At Yokohama Seaside Costco or Tamisaki (Machida) Costco?

[maninjapan]

Kanazawa seaside branch - spent about 5k just on cheese and another 5k just on wine

[omae mona]

BAGELS! 6+6 in two bags for 700 yen


The bad news...
Costco Japan is becoming Japanese and they're steadily increasing their prices every few months to slowly match Japanese prices.

They're also adjusting their recipes to slowly match Japanese tastes! They used to be one of the only places where I could find good, chewy bagels. Starting about two months ago, they suddenly became fluffy (and a lighter color). Tasted just like the crappy bagels sold anywhere in the city now. Round dinner rolls with a hole punched in the middle. A 2nd costco visit showed this to not be a fluke. We asked a lady working there about it, and she acknowledged they changed them because people thought they were too hard.

I may have to resort to the 200 yen imported H&H bagels offered at a few stores in the city, to get my fix from now on. Doh!

[Taro Toporific]

They're also adjusting their recipes to slowly match Japanese tastes! They used to be one of the only places where I could find good, chewy bagels. Starting about two months ago, they suddenly became fluffy (and a lighter color).

Sheeeee-it. I thought the couple of batches of bagels I bought seemed odd.

[maninjapan]

ones i had today were fine, just had a pastrami on sesame seed bagel and was very very chewy. what store did you go to?

[drpepper]

I just bought 1.052 kilo of cheddar for 873yen at Amagasaki which is about the same as I have been paying for 2 years...

[drpepper]

They are definately making recipe 'adjusments' they used to have turkey roll sandwiches but now all they have are the crab ones, Japanese branded items have also steadily been on the rise though this may be due to them increasing the number of stores so that now they can buy enough in bulk to get a decent discount.

[Taro Toporific]

ones i had today were fine, just had a pastrami on sesame seed bagel and was very very chewy. what store did you go to?

Omae Mona and I go to Tamasakai Costco (north Machida) with a gaijin manager who seems to have gone-over-to-the-Dark-Side. .

[inthebubble]

If they are really changing as you suggest it brings back memories of ToysRus here in Okinawa. When they first opened up some 6 or 7 years ago only about 10% of thier toys were Japanese (meaning you could find the same toys in any J toy shop) over the next couple years it has slowly changed and now about 98% of the store is Japanese stuff. Around Christmas they had an infusion of non Japanese stuff, but it is all gone now and they are back to J stuff.
I guess you have to cater to the market, but when you think of toysRus you think of Good old USA toys!

[omae mona]

Omae Mona and I go to Tamasakai Costco (north Machida) with a gaijin manager who seems to have gone-over-to-the-Dark-Side. .

Sorry for the late response. But Taro's right - that was the store.

I will be the first to admit I'm picky about my bagels. But it was actually Mrs. Omae Mona (who had never even SEEN a bagel until a few years ago) who noticed they changed, the moment she took a bite into one. They are also noticeably softer to the touch than before, and a lighter color. Whaaaaaah!