Wholesale shopping

I spent the day Costco shopping. Costco is a wholesale warehouse shop. It is massive. And what you buy there often comes in massive sizes too. (For anyone who's been to a Costco, you probably won't be interested in the following description, but most Aussies haven't seen one.)

The whole event is about extremes. To start with, the shop is only 20km from here. It took me nearly 1 1/2 hours to get there! That means I travelled at around 15 km/hr on average. Most of the way I crept through narrow streets and stopped at a zillion traffic lights.

When I arrived I parked on one of the three floors of car parking. Then, upon arrival at the front door of the shop was offered a shopping trolley (cart for those from the other side of the Pacific) big enough for an adult to sit comfortably in. About three times bigger than an ordinary shopping trolley at Woolies. About six times bigger than the usual Japanese shopping trolley.

The shop is bigger than large. It is like a whole shopping centre in one - without the walls and in-between floors. This one is just one level, but that room is massive, about three stories high. I bet you could easily put a football ground inside the shop.

Unlike most Japanese shops, the aisles are wide. But they need to be to accommodate the massive shopping trolleys and the volume of people attached to the trolleys. People often travel from afar and often it becomes a social affair as groups of people come together. Today I was alone, but I was the unusual one. I encountered plenty of trolley-jams as people crowded around the free-sample stops.

Japanese shops sell small portions - 100g of cornflakes, 200ml of tomato sauce, 1 litre of milk. Not Costco. Their portion sizings are often huge. They have 1.8 kg bottles of peanut butter and 1.25 kg bottles of tomato sauce. Today I bought nappies for a friend and they came in packs of 200 or more. The boxes were so large they each filled one bucket seat in our car.

Because it takes a long time to get there (as opposed to it being a long way away) we don't go very often. So, the amount we buy is also extreme. I spent nearly AU$500 dollars. That includes most of the meat we'll use for the next two months. A lot of cheese and 120 tortillas. All things that are hard to buy locally or just expensive. I also bought a little bit of cereal, a large bottle of vinegar, some Nutella, a large bag of craisens, some large sealable plastic bags, icecream, a large bottle of dishwashing detergent and one of laundry detergent. I picked up a large container of grapes, a dozen apples and a cluster of cucumbers. Some low calorie butter, small tubs of yoghurt and a ready-to-cook pizza for tea. Plus the stuff I'd promised I'd buy for my friend. It took me two trips through the shop and register and about 3 hours including lunch.

That is a cool thing about Costco. They have their own internal restaurant too. Pretty limited menu, but reasonably cheap - if you can get a seat! A bit like McDonalds on a busy day, but a bit larger. Much easier for one person than five! They do have free refills on their drinks.

When I got home (I sped home in only an hour) I had to find homes for all this food. Additionally the portions of meat were too large, so I had to re-package them, totally rearrange our freezer to fit it all in and get back to school on time to pick up the boys. Phew!

It was a more pleasant day, on the whole, than yesterday. Today I enjoyed a lot of solitude. A balm to the soul after yesterday. I got to listen to soul-refreshing music for over two hours in the car. There is also a real satisfaction in providing for one's family. Buying up provisions I can use to provide food for my ravenous family is very satisfying, even if it is tending towards the extreme in proportions.