Costco – Past and PresentCostco started off in Seattle, Washington, in 1983 and in 1993, merged with Price Club, the first retail warehouse club to form PriceCostco. In 1997, the enterprise changed its name to the Costco Wholesale Corporation.Costco's mission is to offer brand name goods at discount prices to small and medium sized businesses, as well as individuals, through a membership model. The organisation currently has almost 700 warehouses around the globe in Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and Spain, as well as the UK and its home country of the United States. Costco currently has 84 million cardholders around the world.Costco: Storefinder and Online ShopCostco merchandises its goods via a chain of more than 25 warehouses around the UK and at its online store at www.costco.co.uk. Only members can shop at warehouses. Anyone can buy online but non-members have to pay a surcharge of 5%.Shoppers wishing to find physical warehouses can find an up-to-date list on their website.
Choose a location from a drop down list or enter your postcode and specify the maximum distance in miles that you wish the store to be within (25-100 miles).Owing to delivery and handling charges, the prices of items sold online may differ from those sold at physical outlets. Moreover, not all of the items offered on the online store are available at local warehouses.Opening hours at Costco warehouses vary between branches and are longer for trade customers than for individual customers. As a rule, business hours are 10:00 to 20:30 for trade customers, and 12:00 to 20:30 for individual shoppers from Monday to Friday, with shorter hours on the weekends.Costco offers a vast assortment of products and their range is constantly changing and expanding. Categories range from garments, all kinds of house and garden items, electronics, white goods, automotive supplies, tyres, clothing, books, foodstuffs, wine, hot tubs, jewellery, 4K TVs, solar panels, office supplies and much more. Prices are kept low via an annual membership fee, basic warehouse setups, and bulk buying.
Bestsellers include Dyson V6 Cordless Vacuum Cleaners, Divine Hot Tubs, Forest Garden Melbury Log Cabins, LG Smart 4K TVs, Keter Factor Sheds, Dormeo Memory Deluxe Mattresses and MacBook Pros.Costco also has its own private label brand of goods - Kirkland Signature, named after the location of the firm's old headquarter in Washington State. The product line includes signature wines, health, beauty and home products, clothing, garden furniture, confectionery, coffee beans, nutritional supplements, pet foods, mattresses and bedding, and cooking implements.Costco features a regular page on their web shop devoted to current deals. You can view an online colour catalogue/coupon book with details of discounted products, prices and purchase limits. The pages also feature online only offers.During the sign up process, customers also have the option to register with their email address for regular offers via email. The retailer is furthermore very active during events such as Black Friday with batches of Hot Buys offered daily in the week leading up to the event.
If you want to find out more, you can visit Costco’s Black Friday page.Membership at Costco is comes in two main types – individual and trade.Members can also apply for the TrueEarnings card – a credit card in collaboration with American Express that means you can earn cashback rewards with when you pay with it. You´ll find further information and can apply for it directly on the website.Costco accepts all the major credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, and Maestro. You can also pay with a TrueEarnings Card.All prices quoted at the Costco website are inclusive of handling and delivery charges to mainland UK destinations. Certain large items also qualify for their White Glove delivery service which involves unpacking/unwrapping, assembly, and testing along with removal of packing materials.Costco uses UPS (United Parcel Service), Parcel Force or Royal Mail. Standard delivery (the only type offered) usually takes 3-5 business days from the receipt of your order, though this may be longer if you live in a remote area.
You can log into your account to check the status of your order.Customers buying goods qualifying for the White Glove service will receive a call 48 to 72 hours in advance.Costco offers a liberal returns policy with no time limit for most goods. Exceptions are electronics items such as computers, projectors, televisions, cameras and camcorders, MP3 players, and mobile phones, which have to be returned within 90 days of purchase. After that, the terms of the warranty apply.Returns can be initiated by calling the customer care centre on Freephone at 0800 0324324 with your membership number (if any) and order number on hand. Costco will then set a date to come and collect the goods.You will then need to follow this procedure:Please note that online purchases cannot be processed at Costco warehouses.The all-round retailer is active on different social media platforms:The Costco App for iOS and Android devices offers customers a fast and easy way to interact with the vendor. Other than offering a mobile way to shop, the devices keep you updated with the latest offers, let you create shopping lists, and contain details of all the warehouse locations.
If you want to get in contact with Costco, all customers have these options:If you are a member, you also have these possibilities:Membership Enquiries & Member Services:A help page with extensive FAQs can also be found at the website.Costco offers a vast range of quality goods at discount prices. The best bargains are collected on a dedicated Costco page here at HotUKDeals.At Consumer Reports, we usually advise you to lie on any mattress you’re considering for at least 15 minutes. But because warehouse clubs display mattresses standing up and websites offer only pictures and descriptions, you need to rely on those companies’ return policies. And from our research, buying from them is fairly low-risk. Here are three top-pick memory foam mattresses from our mattress tests that you can buy online or at Costco. This warehouse club received the second-highest satisfaction score from readers in our survey of subscribers’ experiences with mattress stores. Costco doesn’t say outright what its return policies are for mattresses, but from what we can tell, the company aims to satisfy and won’t charge for shipping and handling if you contact them within a reasonable period of time, such as a few months after purchase.
That goes for the website and the stores. You don’t need to save the box. Recommended mattress from Costco: Spring Air Back Supporter Natalie, $1,200. If you really need to try the company’s mattress, you’ll have to go to either New York City or Los Angeles for one of Casper's only physical showrooms. Casper offers just one model in six sizes. Otherwise, you get 100 nights to decide whether to keep it. If not, Casper will let you exchange or return it for your money back with no restocking or other fees. Shipping is free, too. Recommended mattress from Casper: The Casper, $850. You can try both mattress models that Tuft & Needle offers at its showroom in Phoenix, and it has a 30-night trial period. No mattresses actually go back to the company; instead, you’re asked to donate it to a charity and show the seller the receipt for a full refund—or full credit toward an exchange. (If no charity is nearby, the company will arrange to have the mattress picked up.)