Costco Ringwood

When it is 42 degrees, one would prefer to be indoors and enjoy some air conditioning. Add to that food, and shopping, it becomes a perfect way to spend the day. We went to Costco in Ringwood on Saturday to check out the CNY merchandise. First, we had to go into the store to register our details (we did not have membership, only a gift card from Gaz's cousin who is a member) which includes providing Gaz's driver's licence. In return, he got a slip of paper noting the value of the giftcard which we will have to present to the cashier when paying for our purchases. If there was anything left over from the gift card after using it to pay for our purchases, we may enter Costco again at a later time.

There were big tins of cookies like half a kg of taro pastries, pineapple cookies and egg rolls for about $18-$21. There were black sesame dessert, peach gum dessert packs, Korean ginseng drinks. I also saw bak kwa for $25 but vowed to resurrect my recipe and make my own this year.

I saw some interesting food items that are not usually sold elsewhere like Spam with Jalapeno, Spam with Tocino (both made in the USA) and Red Kiwi fruits (grown in the USA). We wanted to try the Spam but they are sold in threes and the reviews of the Spam flavour were not gushing so we did not buy.

We ended up buying 1kg of prawn hargow, 2 lt avocado oil and Gaz bought some mens' briefs. The avocado oil was by far the cheapest item in comparison to Colesworth. It was half the price of avocado oil in Coles or Woolworths. I am not a big user of any oil, so I will pour some out for use and keep the remainder in the bottle tightly sealed in a dark corner of the pantry. 

 Majority of the items are not any cheaper than Coles, Woolworths (when the items are on sale) or the local fruit and vege shop but there are some unique items and it is certainly useful if one needs to buy in bulk. It is also the bulk buying that makes it cumbersome to navigate around the warehouse. Try rolling a huge trolley along with 100's of other trolleys of bigger or similar size in a confined space - it will be sure to drive anyone crazy! 

Paying for our purchases was relatively easy. Trolleys (with any heavy objects) go on one side of the counter, people go on the other side and they are reconciled at the end of the process. We presented the slip of paper we got from the registration desk when we first entered the store. The cashier had to get a supervisor to come and authorise the purchase when they are paid via gift card. There was a remaining amount that we had to pay and only by cash. I had already prepared for it by withdrawing some money at nearby Ringwood Square. 

After shopping, we had some food at the food court. The menu is small and mostly made up of junk food like chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza slices, soft drinks, chips. We got a slice of pizza and hot dog and soft drink for a grand price of $5. The soft drink is unlimited refill - we saw a family of 5 fill up their cups to go after their meal. We also saw some families open up food they had bought from the store like coconut drink to have while eating their hot dogs. We were bedazzled by the massive platters of assorted sushi ($80 for 2kg) and sashimi ($85 per kg) which is slightly cheaper or on par with other retailers. I wonder if it tastes better than the ones sold by Sushi Hub or Sushi Jiro.