Costco 好市多 in Asia, Taiwan

People, people, people!!! Shopping here can be a nightmare when you barely have the space to walk at a leisurely pace with your trolley cart. CLAUSTROPHOBIA!!! Crowds and queues everywhere :O , very noisy too! I don't know the price of the rotisserie chicken here but it must be cheap enough to cause this snake-line queue. No thanks. No queueing for me.


This is definitely a different experience from the Costco shopping experience in the United States (or at least the one at Lawrence Expressway, Sunnyvale) on a typical Saturday and Sunday. Well, queues at the cashiers are similarly long but at least you have much more space to move around with your huge cart while shopping along each aisle.

How do you know if you are in Costco Asia or Costco Taiwan ? Well...first, there are Mandarin characters that translates to rotisserie, seafood, etc. :O FYI, they call Costco - 好市多 (pronounced Hao Shi Duo) here in Taiwan.

Second, you get huge packs of kimchi - warehouse size, warehouse prices (hopefully). That's my shopping cart. :)


And, can even find Prima Taste Singapore Curry available. This is definitely not availabe in Costco in the United States.


Lastly, we could not believe it when the cashier told us we could only pay CASH!!! (alternatively use a Costco credit card). For those holding on to any other credit card - sorry...but it just won't work. Pissed off! Who on earth would bring so much cash around especially when you shop at a warehouse that carries huge items such as refrigerator, large screen plasma/LCD TV etc. Well, in this country, CASH is king. Here, you either bring enough cash (in a portable safe?) or don't buy so much. It is certainly one good way to help you curb your spending but is this what the merchant really wants?

Tag: costco