Dear Costco,
I don’t know how you did it. But you won.
I shop at the Costco near our house in the Chicago suburbs right before every one of my trips home and throw money at you as if money were grown on trees: vitamins, vitamins, and more vitamins. These are popular items that will sure to please everybody back home. The tiny shelves in my parents’ already cramped bedroom proudly display the vitamins and nutritional supplements that promise to improve the condition of ailments from A to Z like a mini drugstore. Don’t get me wrong: I appreciate your role in my parents’ happiness and pride as they tell their friends which one is for what and the fact they were all brought back from the USA by their wayward daughter. Something to show for.
Ever since your appearance in Taipei, you have become the new love of people here. They love you so much that there are now 3 of you. The one inside the city proper is so crowded that you need to station employees in the street, trying to entice people to drive to another Costco “8-minute drive away” with a coupon for a free drink. I rolled my eyes at the craziness of this all. It is ONLY Costco, people.
Yes, I will confess. I visit Costco every time when I am in Taipei: I go with my family so they can replenish their supplies. It is one of those regular mundane boring things I do not get to do with them. So yes I am paying my dues. When I walked in yesterday, I was at first floored by how exactly like my Costco it was. Eerie almost.
.
.
Everything looks the same at first but once I got into the thick of it, I noticed a lot of differences. Kudos really for finding the perfect formula to adapt a quintessential American warehouse shopping concept (and seriously, you really need massive pieces of land to support this concept, no?) to the small island of Taiwan. You started with smaller packages since people have not as much storage space, are accustomed to making more frequent shopping trips, and are in general more frugal. Instead of giant rolls of Bounce paper towels, the ones sold in Taiwan are half the size. I wonder whether you have heard stories of old folks washing, line drying, and reusing Bounce, driving their children in sane with a house full of sheets of Bounce in varying drying stages. Nevertheless, I was very impressed with the homework you have done and continue to do.
As I was rolling my eyes at the exuberant crowd and their shopping carts piled high with goods, I was at the same time WOWed by the unique items you have managed to source and stock in the store: Frozen, ready to heat, Chinese dishes. I believe you have single-handedly changed how Chinese women make dinners at home.
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.
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Whiskey Tasting in Costco. (And yes, sigh, Christmas stuff in Taiwan now too...)
I became dejected as I mentally calculated the pros and cons of smuggling some of these frozen dishes in my suitcase, esp. the “Buddha Jumping Over the Wall” which traditionally takes a lot of time and work to prepare and in no friggin’ way would I even attempt to make. But you cheered me up with tasting tables, esp. this one, that I KNOW will never be seen in my Costco.
I left with souvenirs for people back in the U.S. purchased from Costco. Don’t tell me you do not find it ironic.
Either way, I am not able to escape you. You got me in and out.
You won.
Sincerely,
A loyal Costco member
p.s. Would you ever consider REVERSE-import the Costcos in Taipei into the Chicago area?
Very cool. I love that Costco, which in the states is known for the massive quantities we can never use up, instead shrinks those down for Taipei concepts of frugality! And reusing Bounce is just incredible. I’d say it’s an immigrant thing (since it sounds like my immigrant family) but your family’s still in their home country!
So it’s an Old Country thing, right?
Linda at Bar Mitzvahzilla recently posted…Battle Over the Halloween Candy
Definitely an old country thing. You must have heard of washing, drying and reusing ZipLoc bags right? I brought some home with me this time as “padding” for the luggage (they are available in Taiwan of course but there is no way my mother would spend actual money buying them…) As soon as I handed them to my mom, she put them away in her bedroom. UGH. I know that when I go home next time I will see those bags still stashed in the same dresser drawer!
I LOVE Costco- have blogged about it many times. High quality items, a CEO that seems to be quite cool and awesome stuff.
Though I have to admit that I find it a bit depressing to walk into stores in different countries and feel like I am here. Reminds me of walking through Office Depot in Israel- if the signs hadn’t been in Hebrew it would have been easy to think that I was in the states.
Jack recently posted…Selling Services To Telemarketers
Compared to Sam’s and Wal-mart, I do feel better shopping at Costco. Their workers always seem so happy there. They apparently treat their people very generously.
I want to shop at a grocery store that has whiskey tastings. Well, actually, I don’t like whiskey. Maybe wine tastings. But in my insane state, you can’t even buy wine in a grocery store.
secret agent woman recently posted…Pre-Halloween
WHAT?! But even if the store sells wine, there is no way they will do wine tasting since they will need to card each and every one right?
Whiskey tasting in Costco? That’s almost enough to get me to embrace the kind of Mega-consumerism that Walmart-Sams-Costoco have unleashed upon us. I always find it interesting to see how other cultures embrace, and adapt things like this.
I like to look down my snooty nose at stuff like Costco. But we shop their too, for all the same economic reasons that people in Taiwan, Chicago, etc.. do. I have come to the conclusion that holding back the forces of consumerism and economics, is like trying to hold back the tide.
I like how they source their goods locally, or so they say.
Still, I can’t believe the nearest Costco to me is over an hour away. It breaks my heart. It really does. Every time I’m in someone’s house, beautifully decorated, and I ask where they got this or that and they say, “Costco,” I want to punch them in the face. No fair.
But I LOVE that you bought gifts there. That cracked me up!
It’s funny how quickly people there are convinced of Costco’s high quality and customer service. I guess “brilliant” is a better word. My family said, Yes, of course you buy gifts here. If you don’t like them, you can return them. Return policy is close to non-existent until Costo.
Costco, like Ikea, is one of those places that makes me want to curl up in a ball on the floor and hyperventilate and cry almost as soon as I walk into it. I just can’t deal. It activates this weird combination of agoraphobia and claustrophobia, and my mind melts. (Target does this too, but to a much lesser extent; I love Target in very small doses, which is all I get as the nearest one to me is at least a 30-minute bus ride away — they’re all out in the suburbs, you know.) I have had to go to Costco a few times, for my office (I don’t go for myself, as I don’t drive and live in a studio apartment) and I just wanted to die every time. Luckily, Costco will deliver things right to your place of business, so we can still keep our kitchens and supply closets stocked without putting my sanity (such as it is) in danger.
Delicious-sounding frozen foodstuffs like that, though, _might_ make me inclined to deal with the mental breakdown occasionally…
Miss B recently posted…Magic & Reality
I will gladly shop for you m’lady! 🙂 That’s the only workout I get.
If they had whiskey tasting at Costco I wouldn’t mind going to Costco.
Libby recently posted…An Open Letter to the City of San Francisco
Me too!