Previously written by Jen B.
When I first had a baby, I wanted to figure out where the best deals were on things like formula and diapers. In prior posts I have talked about the best prices on Pampers, Huggies and Enfamil/Similac. Hopefully this has helped you but the big question I had when I had a newborn was: which is the best warehouse club for moms? Short answer is, it depends on your brand preferences and where you live. I am going to give you the pros and cons on each, so you can make your own decision. Then I will tell you what I think.
COSTCO
Locations: Matthews (Independence & 51), Tyvola
Membership: $50
Costco Pros
- Book selection for kids very good
- Carry Huggies (Snug & Dry), Enfamil & Similac plus store brand
- At times, they get fabulous kids clothes. Last summer, they had Lilly Pulitzer dresses CHEAP!!! And let me tell ya, that stuff flew out of the store! If that happens again, we’ll give you a “Smarty Alert”!
- For SouthPark/Myers Park area moms, Tyvola is the closest warehouse location.
- Great electronics selection
- Outstanding photo shop
- Has snack bar
- Great bakery (their birthday cakes are really good and inexpensive)
- Organic milk selection cheaper
- Great houseware selection (towels, pillows, pots and pans)
Costco Cons
- Do not take Visa/MC (big points off!)
- Do not carry Pampers (big points off for me!)
- No Huggies Supreme (big points off for moms of boys like Jen P. She says Huggies Supreme is the best diaper for boys due to minimal leaking in the front. She was a Pampers queen with the girls and is now a changed woman:-)
- Most expensive membership at $50
Locations: Independence Blvd., Carolina Place and JW Clay (Harris & I-85)
Membership: $40
Sam’s Pros
- They take Mastercard (but not Visa), Discover and debit
- Kid’s clothing selection is pretty good – they have a consistent selection of Carter’s sleepers for maybe $6
- Carry Pampers (best price in Charlotte)
- Carry Huggies (Snug & Dry)
- Carry Gerber 2nd foods, fruits, and veggies in bulk
- They carry great snack options for school-aged children boxed with individual servings
- Great gas prices
- Great for electronics
- Has snack bar
- Rotisserie chicken is awesome
- Great houseware selection (towels, pillows, pots and pans)
- Do not take Visa
Locations: Independence, Carolina Place, Mooresville and Concord
Membership: $45
Sort of the underdog of warehouse clubs since they do not get as much press. I took advantage of a 30-day trial membership to see what they had. Overall, it was a perfectly nice store with most of the same stuff Sams and Costco have.
BJ’s Pros
- They take credit cards!!
- They carry Pampers (2nd best price in Charlotte after Sam’s)
- They carry Pull-ups
- They carry BeechNut and Gerber baby food
- They have Enfamil and Similac plus Similac Isomil and Enfamil ProSobee
- You can go online to get a free one-day pass to try them out
- They take manufacturer coupons! (They others do not!)
- Great wine selection with decent labels
- They have Huggies Snug and Dry but not Huggies Supreme
- Unorganized electronics section
- Not-so-great kid’s clothing or houseware selections
17 comments
I’ve had memberships at Costco and Sam’s (but have not been to a Charlotte Sam’s). Though I, too, would love it if Costco had Pampers, I am sticking with them anyway because I’ve found the quality of the food products at Costco to be far superior.
The Costco Store Brand baby formula is great – just like the name brands, but only costs $20 for two big containers.
BJs has FANTASTIC store coupons(ex, Pampers usually has a $3 off store coupon) that they let you COMBINE with MULTIPLE manufacturer coupons. It often get $7 off($3 store coupon plus 2 $2 manufacturer coupons) a huge box of Pampers for my daughter. For that reason ALONE, I think BJs is the best….
I LOVE BJ’s. I’m not sure about the others, but BJ’s has American Greetings cards at 1/2 off the suggested price. I love to go stock up on cards there.
We are members at Costco. Their store label(know as Kirkland)has great prices on baby wipes. Also,I could swear that the Kirkland brand diaper is made by Huggies, though I have no proof. I would highly recommend both the Kirkland wipes and the diapers, as we have had great luck with them!
I have had all three, Sam’s, BJ’s and Costco at one point or another. Out of all three, I will have to say that Costco is by far the best for us. It is an extremely clean and well organized store. The Kirkland Brand Wipes are excellent and I love them! They do not carry Pampers (which I use for my son and did for my daughter) but we did use the Huggie Pull Ups for her when she was potty trainig and for sleeping at night (she liked the princess theme) and Costco does Carry these. By far the best thing about Costco is the Meat Department! I buy all of our meat there and the Chicken is great b/c it comes individually packaged which is great when freezing meat. I think the quality of the food is excellent. We also bought our Rainbow Wooden Playset there last year ($1200) and normally they cost $4000-$8000 at regular retail locations.
Everything pp’s said about Costco! We also love their fresh salsa and fresh chicken salad, take-n-bake pizzas, wine selection, lunch box items (fruit cups, snack packs, etc) and gas prices.
I have had all three as well, currently I have BJ’s and Costoc. I bought the Costco membership b/c of their brand diapers- Kirkland. I have switched to their diapers now, as Pampers and Huggies were both leaking on my twin boys. I prefer my Costco membership and that is the one I will renew for now.
We go to Sam’s and I always use my VISA. We like to buy the big boxes of pampers. They just added baby food too! My friends husband had to do a comparison of baby formula for grad school and there store formula was the exact same as Similac and cheaper. We did not know this with our last child but are going to try it this time around, when I stop nursing. They take the coupons/checks you get in the mail for it too.
Speaking of diapers – has anyone tried diapers.com??? They ship directly to your house within a few days and ALSO accept coupons! They have all brands and make shopping that much easier…
Speaking of diapers – has anyone tried diapers.com??? They ship directly to your house within a few days and ALSO accept coupons! They have all brands and make shopping that much easier…
I love Costco! I have always used Huggies, so not having Pampers is not an issue. They do not take credit cards, which keeps their prices lower. I just use my debit card instead. (Costco and Dollar Tree are the only stores where I use a debit card.) I buy a lot of the Kirkland (Costco brand) products, which are great quality and inexpensive: coffee, olive oil, milk.
I just got back from Costco! Love it. I do like BJ’s for their diaper selection but I usually just try to go with a friend who has a membership and will get diapers then. I personally think Costco has better prices on certain things that I buy often (milk, OJ, eggs, etc). And you can get a 3 lb bag of Craisins for $7! My 2 year old is in heaven! My girls also love their lemonade at the food place so if they are good while in the store they can get a lemonade and ‘dinner’. Can’t beat a slice of pizza for $2 that feeds all 3 of us.
I’m a Costco shopper and I really like it. I am Anti-Walmart and Sam’s is owned by Walmart so that’s an automatic out for me. I’m a fan of the Kirkland wipes and have made the switch to Huggies. I tried the Kirkland formula and found it was very bubbly and returned it for full credit no questions asked. I do wish they had more baby food options – I saw Puffs there once but never again. The meat department is wonderful as I break everything up and freeze it in small portions for our family. I’m there at least once a month so they have me hooked.
Cosco does take Debit Cards.
Costco also has a great return policy. I just returned a jacket that I had since 2006. I finally washed it for the first time and the material was falling apart. They were able to look up my puchase and gave me back full credit!
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