Costco Wholesale — Local services in Issaquah

I'm still a fan, but I have to mention a couple things I have noticed recently:

A few weeks ago, I was shopping and as I was getting ready to check out, I heard the cashier ask the person in front of me for I.D when he handed her his debit card. I thought this was odd, since in my 30+ years as a customer they have never asked me for I.D. at the checkstand. I looked up and noticed that the couple was also paying with the same type of debit card I use, so I promptly pulled out my own I.D. to be ready.

I was not asked for I.D, even though our purchases were similar(he wasn't buying alcohol.) Our costco cards looked the same. Our payment cards looked the same. So I started thinking about what was different.

Our age. Our gender. Our race/ethnicity/color. Our religion? We were both dressed modestly. I'm nearing 50, he was probably late 20's/early 30's. His skin was definitely darker than mine. He had an accent.

I've never Ever seen any form of discrimination at Costco. That's why this experience stood out to me. I don't know that I witnessed discrimination in this experience. There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for what happened. But it definitely Did stand out to me. My daughter has "C.I.D" written on one of her cards that she rarely uses, but this was not the case here. The guy seemed surprised to be asked for I.D.

On to the next thing:

With all the talk about "tracking" business and activities, I seem to remember that people on social media tend to complain about being tracked online, or by advertisers and stores. Costco tracks Everything you buy, and keeps those records Forever. Just a thought. I was reminded of this when I returned something today. I lost my receipt and decided to try and take something back anyway. I just received my new costco card and had made the purchase I was returning with my old one. Despite the fact that I had a new costco card, a new payment card, and NO receipt. Costco was able to verify not only that I personally purchased the item, but when, where, and how much I paid. When you think about how long they have been in business and how many customers they have, that's an awful lot of information to store... and for what purpose? If that "bad" big box store did this, would there be an uproar.

Saved the best for last:

I love the gas here! It's the cheapest gas around. They can serve up to 18 vehicles at a time. They are open a half hour later than the store. And my fave- the service is great. Today I bought gas, and I have a new vehicle, I haven't been here in this vehicle in a while, I have only seen this particular clerk once (I remember him because of a particular thing he said) and he remembered me. So Big kudos to Costco on this one, they do hire great people! Personally, I've never had bad...

My family has been using Issaquah Costco for 11 years and we always enjoyed shopping there because of the nice staffs and good products.

And today we had the most terrible experience ever. My mom was at the optometry department to browse glasses for my sister, and my sister and I were trying to join her after shopping groceries. As we arrived, a staff came along and explained that they are limiting the number of customers inside because of the social distance policy and therefore we had to wait outside until they say we're good to enter. My sister and I immediately understood and waited outside.

Since my mom was already inside, she continued to browse alone. We let her know we were here and she asked why we were not coming inside. My sister explained why and told her to continue browsing until we join her. And suddenly an irritated-looking staff cut in between us and asked my sister if she was talking to her. My sister said "No, I was talking to my mom." And the staff asked once more if my sister was talking to another young female staff who was passing by my mom. My sister said, once more, "NO. I was talking to HER. That's my mom." Then the staff said we must wait outside to obey the social distance policy(which we already are). We said we know and we waited.

This was already an unpleasant experience by itself, but unfortunately this was NOTHING compared to the following moment.

A staff, white female named Melody, stood behind the counter, looked at us, and started explaining why we had to wait outside in unpleasant tone. And that moment my sister and I started feeling very uncomfortable. We told her we already know the rules and we were only trying to communicate with my mom earlier. Then she walked up to my mom and asked her aggressively "what are you trying to do here???"

It was UNBELIEVABLE. We finally got mad and told her why she keeps saying the things we already know and giving such attitude. The staff named Melody then rolled her eyes and sarcastically said she's not giving us attitude. My mom said she was clearly bothering her by asking such question. An then my sister and I both heard Melody imitating my mom saying "you bothered me" quietly with her coworker(the one asked my sister if she was talking to her or not out of blue). We couldn't believe what just happened before our eyes. We were so angry and tried to talk to her but she just walked away like it was none of her business. Without a single apology. We were shocked.

I just hope that nobody else experience the same thing and that I don't see Melody on my next visit. It's great loss for Costco to have a...

In the heart of the Issy and next to the world headquarters is this warehouse in Issaquah.

Parking is vast, and stalls are wide. Spaces are taken up quickly during the usual weekend times Friday thru Sunday, so pack your patience during those times. Saturday is super crazy and additionally challenging for parking with the additional traffic from the farmers market. This is just a small observation, but no one driving a Tesla knows how to park within the lines, so watch whom you park next to because sometimes it's worth parking farther away. The gas stations open an hour before and after opening hours for your convenience. Please be kind, and take the time to put away your cart in the cart corral. I mean, they are located literally everywhere, and the extra steps are only going to benefit you.

This particular location has a great selection of Asian food products and believe it or not, brand name clothing with promotions that competes with the best of outlet stores so keep an eye on those "death stars*" IYKYK. My favorite find has been the Gochu-jang SPAM, my goodness is a life-changer in the airfryer!

They also have flowers or Lego flowers if you're not good at keeping things watered. I'm always walking away with something in my basket during my weekly treasure hunts!

Pro Tip: Skip on the $18 sushi and go for the grab-n-go gyro or tempura shrimp taco kits. Plug them in the airfryer for a restaurant-level meal in minutes! The Veuve Clicquot is also a great find and super value that is unmatched, as well as the bottle of Notebook. You'll want to buy a case if you are a conscious buyer of wine.

They have added additional self-checkout stations so those lines have gotten better but still have their challenges with efficiency. Mostly, it's user error, but there is still room for improvement, such as an item quantity limit for those lanes.

Midas 5-stars - for the special finds. Midas 2-stars - specifically for the pharmacy that rarely gets it correct or...