Costco comes to Rochester

Until last night, I had never been inside a Costco store.  I had heard many good things about it from family that live in other states - Virginia, Alabama, and Florida.

For a number of years, the news media in Rochester kept reporting on a new Costco coming here.  There was one obstacle after another.  The land it was going to be built on had once been a tuberculosis center.  There were underground tunnels and excavation was going to be a problem.  To be honest, I would miss the old, old buildings, long in decline.  Their quaint architectural touches from a bygone era always captured my fantasy.

Once construction began, word was Costco would open in "early spring."

Fast forward to June and here we are!

I really don't like crowds and avoid them most of the time.  But I couldn't resist going to see what all the hype was about.  I took the first available parking space I could find, which was quite a walk to the store.

After standing in line for about an hour to get my membership card, I finally entered this giant of a store.  It was bright inside.  The sales people were friendly and helpful.  I wandered down each aisle just looking at the merchandise and noting prices.  Wow!  A large container of fresh blueberries for THAT price???  The variety of grocery products was impressive.  I'm told Costco does not sell GMO food.  That's a plus.

One thing that stood out was the number of opportunities to sample food.  My son proclaims people actually go to Costco for dinner with all the samples available!

After awhile, the crowds were getting to me.  It had been a long week at work and my brain was about to shut down.  At the checkout register, I was confused.  It appeared each register had two lines, one on either side.  I began putting my few purchases on the conveyor belt.  That's when a sales lady told me they take your purchases out of your cart and place them on the counter.  Hhhmmm!  Wegmans and BJ's don't do that.

I think I'm going to like this new fangled store in town.