You may think I’m obsessed with Costco from the amount of posts. Ok, so obsessed may be a little strong, but I definitely can’t get enough of it. I guess we all have our things 🙂
Recent finds – frozen “East coast” lobster tails and pulled pork. No joke.
Yet to be tested. If anyone has tried these I’d be happy to hear the result!
There’s something about Costco that just keeps bringing me back. The good part is that it’s full of American brands including housewares, food (including Reese’s peanut butter cups!) and clothing. The bad part is that you can never go without dropping a decent chunk of change. Fortunately (or maybe not for our pockets) my Spanish husband loves it too.
Here’s a picture of us from this afternoon fighting the crowds at Costco in Getafe (now there are two in Madrid, another in Las Rozas, and they’re always packed. Lack of social distancing much??
My Airpods have been on the fritz for quite some time now. I’ll admit they’ve also gone through the washing machine a couple times, but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it. After talking to an Apple rep last week I finally gave in that I’m going to have to buy new ones. (Technically I could just use the normal ones, but once you’ve gotten used to the cable-free headphones it’s hard to go back, especially with sports).
Yesterday I went to my beloved Costco, mainly to buy decent-sized pumpkins (and oversized American-brand bulk products and food that I really don’t need)… I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they sell Apple products. I was just about to buy the Airpods at the standard price of 179.00€. At Costco they sell the same ones, second generation, for 144,99€. They also have other Apple products like the new iPhones and some laptops, but as I’m not in the market for those I didn’t look in more detail.
I thought this was might be useful to share. I love Costco! Definitely worth the annual membership fee!
And one more image. Since I’m writing about Costco, it’s necessary to include an image of the pumpkins there -best ones I’ve found over here!
In my 13 years here I’ve found one place with decent Halloween pumpkins – Costco. If you’re like me and love Halloween and pumpkin carving, then you’ll probably be disappointed with the pumpkins you find at the local supermarkets. Even the “large” calabazas that some of them sell (compared to the small ones that look like overgrown apples) still aren’t that great; you’re lucky if you can even get a decent pumpkin face on one of the ones from Mercadona or Carrefour.
The best place I’ve seen so far is Costco, the American wholesaler. There are only two locations in Spain so far (one in Madrid (Getafe), fortunately, and the other in Seville).
To give you an idea of the size, here’s my almost 3-year old sons with one:
For me going to Costco is like walking into the US – with all the American brands, everything in bulk like at Sam’s Club or BJs (or Costco) back in the US, and usually some scattered American accents around the store. I could spend hours there just browsing around. The only issue is that you need to be a paying “socio” to go into the store. It costs 36€ a year just to be able to go to the store and buy. The prices aren’t at all cheap, and you can usually expect to spend at least 100€ every time you go, but the quality is great.
Aside from pumpkins, there are two other great things at Costco:
Here’s an image of the pollo asado factory and lines to get them today at Costco:
Roast chicken lines @ Costco
Rotisserie chicken factory @ Costco
And a recent article in CNN :
Who knew the Costco rotisserie chicken was a cult item in the US even with its own facebook page – yes, I’m now a fan.
Costco Rotisserie Chicken Cult Fan Facebook page
Happy pumpkin/chicken/US brands shopping!
Spanishized: Insights from an American in Spain 