New Zealand Costco!
New Zealand Travelog #40
Auckland, NZ - Sun, 21 Apr 2024, 6pm
A few weeks ago, before we started our trip to New Zealand, I wondered, Are there Costcos in New Zealand? It's not that I'm trying to make a thing of visiting a Costco in every country I travel to but that it'd make a difference in how we packed. There are few things which, if we could have counted on buying them at Costco, we wouldn't have had to pack them. And also I am kind of checking out Costcos in foreign countries I visit. 😂
The good news was there's a Costco is in New Zealand! The bad news was it's a Costco, as in just one in the whole country, and it's in Auckland- which would be at the very end of our trip, not the beginning when it'd make a difference to packing. Thus I wrote it off as a thing to do.
Then a funny thing happened on the way to Omeru Falls today. On the drive north we passed a Costco. The Costco in New Zealand. "Let's stop by on our way home if we take the same route back," Hawk and I agreed.
From the outside this Costco looks positively huge. It's a multi-storey building with a parking garage and offices. I figure the offices are for the company's presence in New Zealand. They likely manage all their imports, inventory, advertising, and staffing there. Once inside it turns out the store's not any bigger than normal for a US Costco... though there is a trick people-mover ramp from the parking garage above the store down to the retail level.
As with our visit to one of Australia's Costcos in December the most impressive thing was how at least half the stock in the store is the same as in the US. Here, 4337 miles away from the nearest US location. (I know the exact straight-line distance because the Costco app helpfully tells me that that's the nearest store, in Kona, Hawaii. Obviously the US-centric app is missing the few stores in Australia as well as the one here in New Zealand... though it does show one store in western China "Opening May 1".
We walked more than half the aisles at Costco, mostly just window-shopping for cultural comparison. Indeed there are a number of things unique items we'd be willing try if we were starting our trip here, not going home tomorrow. One thing I did consider, momentarily, buying here to pack on the plane is a bulk box of TimTams. They're a delicious snack cookie popular in Australia and New Zealand. I've enjoyed them on my trips here, and while I wouldn't mind having some to take home, that's not the reason I thought about buying this box.... It's that while I merely like them, some people in the US loooove them and are willing to pay quite dearly for anyone who brings them over. 🤣
The other thing I was curious about are the offerings at the food court. There's a fair degree of worldwide standardization here, though some things are different- including the prices, marked in local currency. One thing that gives some US Costco loyalists a heart attack is seeing that hotdog-and-pepsi combo in the center of the menu board for $1.99. In the US it's $1.49, has been $1.49 for a long time, and touches off a wave of panic that even impacts their stock price whenever it's rumored that it might increase.
One obvious tell this menu board is foreign and is not some inflationary test-marketing experiment in the US is that the hot dog is advertised as "ALL PORK". In the US it's all beef, and that's part of the brand identity. (There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, some that persists to this day, when Costco changed from Hebrew National Kosher hotdogs to Kirkland brand non-Kosher.)
Among other differences on the menu are french fries- which, oddly, Costco NZ calls french fries rather than "chips"- and a meat pizza with barbecue sauce.
Do these things sell well in New Zealand? If crowds are any indication, the answer is "Hell yes!" The food court area was mobbed.
Auckland, NZ - Sun, 21 Apr 2024, 6pm
A few weeks ago, before we started our trip to New Zealand, I wondered, Are there Costcos in New Zealand? It's not that I'm trying to make a thing of visiting a Costco in every country I travel to but that it'd make a difference in how we packed. There are few things which, if we could have counted on buying them at Costco, we wouldn't have had to pack them. And also I am kind of checking out Costcos in foreign countries I visit. 😂
The good news was there's a Costco is in New Zealand! The bad news was it's a Costco, as in just one in the whole country, and it's in Auckland- which would be at the very end of our trip, not the beginning when it'd make a difference to packing. Thus I wrote it off as a thing to do.
Then a funny thing happened on the way to Omeru Falls today. On the drive north we passed a Costco. The Costco in New Zealand. "Let's stop by on our way home if we take the same route back," Hawk and I agreed.
From the outside this Costco looks positively huge. It's a multi-storey building with a parking garage and offices. I figure the offices are for the company's presence in New Zealand. They likely manage all their imports, inventory, advertising, and staffing there. Once inside it turns out the store's not any bigger than normal for a US Costco... though there is a trick people-mover ramp from the parking garage above the store down to the retail level.
As with our visit to one of Australia's Costcos in December the most impressive thing was how at least half the stock in the store is the same as in the US. Here, 4337 miles away from the nearest US location. (I know the exact straight-line distance because the Costco app helpfully tells me that that's the nearest store, in Kona, Hawaii. Obviously the US-centric app is missing the few stores in Australia as well as the one here in New Zealand... though it does show one store in western China "Opening May 1".
We walked more than half the aisles at Costco, mostly just window-shopping for cultural comparison. Indeed there are a number of things unique items we'd be willing try if we were starting our trip here, not going home tomorrow. One thing I did consider, momentarily, buying here to pack on the plane is a bulk box of TimTams. They're a delicious snack cookie popular in Australia and New Zealand. I've enjoyed them on my trips here, and while I wouldn't mind having some to take home, that's not the reason I thought about buying this box.... It's that while I merely like them, some people in the US loooove them and are willing to pay quite dearly for anyone who brings them over. 🤣
The other thing I was curious about are the offerings at the food court. There's a fair degree of worldwide standardization here, though some things are different- including the prices, marked in local currency. One thing that gives some US Costco loyalists a heart attack is seeing that hotdog-and-pepsi combo in the center of the menu board for $1.99. In the US it's $1.49, has been $1.49 for a long time, and touches off a wave of panic that even impacts their stock price whenever it's rumored that it might increase.
One obvious tell this menu board is foreign and is not some inflationary test-marketing experiment in the US is that the hot dog is advertised as "ALL PORK". In the US it's all beef, and that's part of the brand identity. (There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, some that persists to this day, when Costco changed from Hebrew National Kosher hotdogs to Kirkland brand non-Kosher.)
Among other differences on the menu are french fries- which, oddly, Costco NZ calls french fries rather than "chips"- and a meat pizza with barbecue sauce.
Do these things sell well in New Zealand? If crowds are any indication, the answer is "Hell yes!" The food court area was mobbed.