Skorheim: I bet you didn’t know this about Costco …
Oct 11, 2023, 4:51 PM | Updated: Oct 12, 2023, 3:34 pm
A car passes by a Costco store in Seattle. (Photo: Toby Scott, Getty Images)
(Photo: Toby Scott, Getty Images)
I had the opportunity to chat with David and Susan Schwartz, two Costco superfans who are also a married couple and have just written a really great book called, “The Joy of Costco: A Treasure Hunt From A to Z” (order it here). David and Susan decided to take their love of our local Pacific Northwest Company, and travel around the world to every country (14 in total) with a Costco. In total, they visited 200 of the super stores (there are 850 Costco warehouses, by the way) while researching this book.
Among the many topics we discussed in the interview: how the products vary from store to store. Specifically, I wanted to hear about the food. I know there’s more out there than hot dogs and chicken bakes.
Susan explained how, “in Alaska (home to one of the smallest Costco warehouses in the world at just 75,000 square feet), you’ve got reindeer sausage. And in Taiwan, the rotisserie chicken has its head still on.”
The front cover of “The Joy of Costco: A Treasure Hunt From A to Z”
(Image courtesy of David and Susan Schwartz via Amazon.com)
I was pretty shocked by the chicken part. But that’s not the strangest item they discovered in their travels. That honor is found on the other side of the world, where David tells me that, “South Korea has a holiday called Chuseok which is their autumn harvest holiday, a very important holiday there.
“Costco puts together gift packs for people to buy and take to their ancestral homes,” David continued. “These gift packs are amazing, and in the seafood section, there are tons of live seafood that they put in these packs. Live lobsters, live crabs, live clams. They pack them in the gift baskets alive.”
I couldn’t believe it. “How?!” I asked.
“They’ve got air holes,” Susan assured me.
If you’re looking for a fun read, I highly recommend their book. The pictures inside alone are worth your time. Take a look if you get a chance.
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