Costco Wholesale Kawasaki Warehouse — Restaurant in Kawasaki

Costco Wholesale Kawasaki Warehouse (コストコホールセール 川崎倉庫店) might just be the best version of Costco anywhere in the world. Thoughtful Japanese hospitality meets the familiar abundance of Costco, complete with regional exclusives, matcha ice cream, and a bulgogi bake that might convert the skeptics. 5/5 – A glorious fusion of East and West.

Full Review: Costco Kawasaki has done the impossible. As a proud American who has walked the wide, echoing halls of Costcos from Washington state to Connecticut, I say this with both awe and a twinge of nationalistic heartbreak: Japan has improved Costco. I didn’t expect it. I wasn’t prepared. But they’ve done it—and they’ve done it beautifully.

At first glance, it’s all familiar: the towering racks, the oversized carts, the industrial ceiling lighting that says, "Yes, you're in the land of bulk goods." But step further in, and you’ll quickly realize that this isn’t just Costco—it’s Costco with style, etiquette, and regional pride.

Let’s talk about the shopping experience. Unlike the chaos-prone Costcos of the world, Costco Kawasaki manages to channel the excitement of big-box shopping through the lens of Japanese courtesy. Aisles remain navigable, mostly. Customers are considerate, mostly. Staff are organized and consistently helpful. Yes, you’ll still get the occasional roadblock and cart pileup thanks to rude, narcissistic, or otherwise overenthusiastic international visitors (you know who you are), but the atmosphere is upheld by locals who carry themselves with poise and patience. It’s Costco—elevated.

And then, the selection. Oh, the glorious selection. You’ll find the usual suspects: Kirkland everything, American snacks in absurd volumes, mountains of paper towels and soda. But the regional exclusives are what make this place special. From beautifully packaged Japanese sweets and condiments to household items that just make sense, Costco Kawasaki feels like a curated cultural bridge. Matcha soft serve, anyone? The bulgogi bake alone is reason enough to come back—cheesy, meaty, a little messy, and completely worth it.

Sure, the prices might not always be more competitive than your average Aeon or Universe in the Japanese countryside. But Costco’s value lies in its scale, its novelty, and its sense of occasion. You come here not just to buy, but to explore, to sample, to marvel at the absurdity of buying 50 muffins and somehow rationalizing it.

Final Score: 5/5 Costco Kawasaki isn’t just a great store—it’s a benchmark. A dazzling showcase of what happens when Western consumer culture meets Japanese efficiency and hospitality. If you ever wondered what Costco could be at its...

The store is fine, it's a Costco.

I do wonder if the hiring criteria is "Are you a surly jerk? Yes. YOU'RE HIRED." It isn't everybody (of course) but I'd say a good half of the staff are unfriendly, surly, unhelpful, unaware and generally should never have any job that deals with people.

Specifically, cashiers will regularly just stop working and start chatting with each other like high school mean girls, or suddenly stop serving a line and ORDER you to another till without any sort of apology, sometimes they will grace you with an eye roll. Again, not all are bad but many are.

Food court cashiers are almost universally surly and act as though you buying food from them is an inconvenience.

Entering the store, you need to show membership, on more than one occasion, I'd say close to a majority of the time I've visited, the staff will be chatting away with another employee and barely acknowledge you're coming through, no Japan type "irrashaimase" (unnecessary but still), or even eye contact and a chin lift/nod of acknowledgement.

The thief checkers at the exits are almost 100% rude as hell and absolutely horrible at their jobs. I once traded carts with a buddy by mistake so our shopping was entirely different and we didn't notice the cart swap until back at the car, checkers didn't notice. So what is the freakin point of having rude staff block the exits and treat people like thieves if they aren't going to do anything worthwhile?

My last visit, after checkout, on my way out of the store, there was a staff member trying to up-sell someone on their membership, more power to them. Problem was, the customer, their shopping and the staff member were between the carts parked at the food court and the sign up desk, blocking the entire exit isle. How oblivious does that staff person need to be?

So, yeah, it's a Costco, some decent to great prices, some over priced things, Kirkland branded products are generally great both in terms of quality and pricing but the staff overall are TERRIBLE. It is so bad that you just have to believe that they intentionally hire horrible employees and the culture must be so bad that any good employees that get through get beaten down over time.

I don't need or want staff to kiss my feet, but there is a huge zone between [rude] and [obsequious] that Costco in Japan is just not hitting. Dissafected but helpful = great. Not friendly but not rude = great. Costco...

Costco Kawasaki - simply the worst Costco warehouse

My family shops at various Costco warehouses in/outside Japan and Costco Kawasaki very consistently provides the worst customer experience. This has been the case for years so we try not to go there but often it is just the warehouse that is closest. Unfortunately, Kawasaki does not improve on their own so I hope that Costco HQ will finally make sure to improve the situation.

Two catagories needs improvement.

Staff service Why do we have to fight about properply wrapping heavy meat and fresh salmon packages? It is only staff at Costco Kawasaki who does not understand the customer efforts required to clean one's car or Costco shopping bag just because fish/meat juices leak from Costco's insufficient packaging.

Food items Why is it that regular food items are often out-of-stock at Costco Kawasaki? Everytime I ask, I get the same answer, "oh we are sorry, it was in-stock this morning but now it is gone". Everytime! An item going out-of-stock is what happens but I don't like being lied to. Everytime we hope that Costco Kawasaki has finally improved, we go there, until to be dissappointed again. Today, five completely regular food items were out-of-stock.

I suggest that Costco Kawasaki staff get trained at...