Costco Wholesale — Local services in Chula Vista

I only came to Costco today because the closest Sam's Club is about 20 minutes away and I just needed to pick up some Orange Juice and Romaine Lettuce Hearts and the Costco is only 5 minutes away (I had already did my Sam's run for the week and forgot those two items). Unfortunately I left without purchasing any fresh Orange Juice because Costco only had one giant bottle or 3 bottles for almost $11 (Sam's has two brands of fresh OJ for me to choose from under $7 and I only have to buy 2 qtys plus a larger bottle option if I'm not mistaken) and I don't have the fridge space for a giant bottle or 3 smaller bottles. The lettuce was pricier at Costco than at Sam's but it wasn't worth me running all the way to Sam's over a dollar price difference. I wish Sam's would open a location in Chula Vista (maybe at the Chula Vista Mall since there's so much vacancy there) because I prefer shopping at Sam's over Costco. Costco doesn't have a scan and go option for me to check out on my phone like Sam's does so I waited in a self checkout line and the register couldn't even scan my digital card for me to check out (a worker had to come by with a scanning gun and he had trouble getting the gun to scan my digital card for the longest time). Sam's also let's me order groceries from home and just drive up to pick up my goodies which is how I prefer to shop to save time (I get plenty distracted by other items that catch my eye online for me to load up cart up with random items shopping from home so there's no need to force me to walk through an entire giant warehouse to pick up a few items). This Coscto location served its purpose being the closest bargain warehouse store nearby and is still a better value than a normal grocery store, but the experience shopping at Sam's is far better in my opinion.

Update 09/08/23 I still despise this Costco location. The parking lot is a mess. It's pretty stressful worrying an overly aggressive driver will cause an accident here. We came to get glasses today and despite the optical center being near the exit they wouldn't let us walk through the exit and made us go around. Not a big deal except we had to keep walking further and further towards the opposite side of the store away from the optical center before we could finally cross to get to the Optical Center since all the checkout lines were packed or blocked off to prevent people from crossing through. Prices at Sam's are still far better and the shopping experience at Sam's Club is far superior because I'm able to check out on my phone and walk out without dealing with the nightmare long lines at Costco. Sam's also gives us pick-up options which is a huge time saver. Costco doesn't allow that and forces me to waste my time shopping inside the store. Sam's gets more of my money because I'm not a fan of shopping to Costco, but I only have membership because there isn't a Sam's with a gas station nearby so we'll buy gas at Costco and drive to College Grove to pick up orders I place at...

The absolute worst experience ever. im 20 y/o and my mom and i were shopping around and i wanted to buy something but my mom said no, so i said i would pay for it later. When we get to the cashier, who was so so so slow btw, he started scanning the items and i gave my mom the 5 dollars i owed her for the item. all of a sudden he starts asking me for ID (we had a bottle of tequila in the cart) but my mom and i swore he was just being sarcastic and i said oh im not 21 yet and laughed it off. then he kept scanning, and when he scanned everything he asked me for ID again and my mom and i laughed it off because again, we thought he was joking around until he got really serious and said the supervisor saw me give her money on the camera. He basically told us we had to leave and that he couldn't let us pay because I needed ID and we were still so confused why i needed ID and asked what was going on and he wouldn't explain. We were confused and he said that he saw me give my mom 5 dollars and that i couldn't buy alcohol without ID and we tried explaining the situation and that i obviously wasn't paying for everything including the tequila. Another supervisor comes over and we explain that i wanted to pay my mom for my item and thought it would be easy to give the money to her then when she had her wallet out, and that i wasn't the costumer, my mom was the one who would be paying. She then asked if we could prove she was my mom?? and we then realized they thought i was trying to buy alcohol under the age and asked a stranger to pay for it, which was totally not the case. I understand there are laws and rules they have to follow but we were treated so rudely and were basically getting kicked out, in the end we showed proof and they finally let my mom pay. Before us another lady had a problem with the same guy because she had a mexican costco membership card and he wouldn't let her pay, which you totally can btw. Horrible costumer service all around and an incredibly rude and bad mannered cashier, his name was Ramon G. Please do something about your employees costumer...

This Costco is the epitome of western civilizations' downfall as we know it. Especially the food court; people eat as if they're starving to death, throw trash everywhere, and leave the tables with crumbs of food and used napkins. Consider yourself lucky if someone actually says "excuse me" around here.

Don't even get me started on how people literally run to grab a rotisserie chicken from the hood (I'm not joking, people literally run to grab 2 or 3 chickens per cart). It's hilarious and downright embarrassing.

Speaking of the rotisserie chickens, who's idea was it to start packing them in plastic bags instead of the plastic tray? I've been buying these chickens for over 15 years and never had a problem with the trays. However, now that they're in bags, the bags leak all the time and make a mess in the car. At least the tray would prevent any kind of leaks and even served as a plate (I understand, Costco made these changes to reduce plastic waste pollution. However, it sure has had a cost on flexibility easiness).

Furthermore, parking your car is another challenge. People literally compete and fight over the closest parking to the main entrance, I'm not joking. Don't even get me started on the people with those huge monster trucks that drop off people at the red fire lanes and obstruct all traffic around them. Nightmarish.

Moreover, the way people rush and push you with their cart is unforgiven. And lastly, there's always a queue to exit the store because some employees check every single cart that exits and count the items on your cart. Every single day, all the time. Like if they're sure that you're going to steal something and it's normal for them. And people are ok with this? Thank you Costco for treating me like a criminal on a daily basis! do yourself a favor and shop at Target and Grocery Outlet; they treat their clients with dignity. Or at least go to the Costco at Camino del Rey, the people there have more and better manners.

All in all, I stopped enjoying coming to his Costco a long time ago. Since when did grocery shopping...