£1.50 for the hotdog and 60p for the Coke (the only place I know in the UK that does free refils too!)

Nothing against the beauty of much of the UK, but would you rather live in READING in order to shop at the Costco there? I think that if the good Lord was going to give the world an enema, he'd consider inserting the syringe in Reading! I say that because on three separate occasions, when parking in the Railway parking lot there, my rental car was broken into twice and damaged by a hit n' run driver another time. IMHO, Reading is a pit! Tony Blair could give me a house there and I'd refuse it!

As far as Costco differences that would engender sadness over living in the U.S... ???

Good lord, I'm not extolling the virtues of Reading, I'm extolling the virtues of a huge pack of pain au chocolate and decent chocolat, two things that I find are lacking in the US!

Actually, the sadness over living in the US stems from religious, political and family issues, but I won't go into that here :(

So would you say this is still the best store to visit via public transportation from LON?

A blast from the past I know ;)

Thanks.

I can't understand why people want to visit Costco when they're on holiday. Personally I go to IKEA.

Anyway Costco Reading is nowhere near the best one to visit from London.

If you mean LHR, the 105 bus from Terminal 3 gets you to Costco Hayes in 20 minutes, or you could even take a taxi/minicab/Uber.

From central London, the easiest would be to take a train to East Croydon from Victoria or London Bridge and the 119 bus gets you to Costco Croydon in 20 minutes + 10 minutes walk.

Costco Wembley is the closest to central London but I don't like the industrial area on that side of the stadium.

Industrial sized pickled onions :)

Awesome! (Grymt bra!)

David

We mainly go back to the UK for one thing...shopping!! Decent quality at great prices....the complete opposite of what you get here. :D

Once visited a Costco while on holiday in Vancouver. Purchased a super suitcase as well as maple syrup and coffee.

My take on this is if you truly have the time, then go. Otherwise, no.

Each Costco's offering is different to match up the local need, even with the Costco branches that are only miles away. So while many items will be the same, there will be noticeable difference.

However, the pricing in the U.K. are usually higher than the U.S. With the different safety standard, etc., it is unlikely that you may be able to buy something from there.

While I also appreciate Costco's guarantee on the products, I am not so sure how you can return an item purchased in the U.K. in an U.S. store.

Fair enough, but given the topic(s) of this thread I was thinking of people visiting from the US, products are unlikely to be cheaper in the UK and they might as well go to a state with no sales tax or something like that.

And Costcos are often difficult to get to unless you are driving, even if you wanted something specific from the UK, it should be available in a regular supermarket and unlikely to be worth the extra time or cost of getting to a Costco in most costs.


I too have been to a Vancouver Costco, as I always stay with family when visiting Canada.

I was being serious about IKEA, case in point, ice creams at Hong Kong IKEA are now cheaper than McDonalds.

I always thought the main idea of Costco was bulk purchasing..i.e. what you most likely won't do on a vacation due to luggage/customs restrictions. If you just want to buy UK products..just go to the closest bigger Tesco/Sainsbury's or Asda. Costco's savings would in my mind be significantly outweighed by the opportunity cost of going out of your way to go there while on vacation.

Had to laugh at the Asda comment though..as it actually is a division of Walmart. It's called Asda because Walmart has a bad reputation in Europe..

While Walmart may or may not have a bad reputation in Europe, that is not why it is called ASDA: The ASDA story

Nandos and DF/Mexico in the UK do serve yourself drinks (unlimited)

Some of the Burger Kings have the Coke machine that you can make any number of choices and serve yourself.

Five Guys has serve yourself drinks.

A lot has changed over the last 13 years....

Walmart acquired them but didn't change the name. Obviously speculation as to why they didn't do that..but Walmart did have to pull out of the German market due to negative PR surrounding the Walmart brand.