I finally got a Costco membership — here's my unfiltered review after my first shopping haul

Why is the cart SO big

I know, I've mentioned the size of the cart about three times already — but that's because it's literally three times too big.

I get why — because everything at Costco is equally supersized, so you need a massive thing to push it all around in. Still, though, can we get some other options? Maybe one that doesn't come up to my neck for the days when I'm not planning on buying a mattress while grocery shopping?

It was kinda nostalgic, actually, feeling like a five-year-old whose mom let her push around the grocery cart. Just like back then, it was a mammoth task turning a corner or dodging my fellow shoppers. What's different now, though, is that I don't get the same grace that I once did as an adorable kid when I ram into someone.

This place is literally the busiest spot in town

I live in a pretty small town in New Brunswick. The kind of spot where you go out on a Friday night to the most popular restaurant around and can find empty tables. Typically, going out mid-day during the workweek (or mid-day during a weekend, admittedly) is reminiscent of visiting an abandoned mining town.

Now, though, I know the cure to feeling lonely in this town — just go to Costco, where there will almost definitely be hordes of people.

I rolled up to my local Costco Warehouse at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday – not exactly prime time — and was overwhelmed immediately. It started in that parking lot, where people were running around with their overstuffed carts like chickens with their heads cut off, and cars were circling, ready to go head-to-head for a spot.

Mind you, it was mostly me and the local retirees fighting over these parking spaces, but let me tell you — they have no remorse when cutting someone off to get a spot.

It didn't get better inside either. People were swarming this place. Crowds formed by the tastiest of sample tables (the cheese, obviously), and there was a guy posted up by the checkout lines to direct traffic (a job I did not envy).

I don't even want to imagine what a Sunday afternoon is like there.

People take Costco ​shopping seriously​

These people showed no mercy when it came to their shopping. Being a Costco newbie feels like your first day at university all over again. I was nervous, felt like everyone was looking at me, and wandered around aimlessly, not knowing where to go first. There was no Frosh leader to direct me here, though – I was left to fend for myself, and it did not go well.

Maybe it's common sense to everyone else, but how was I to know that I had to have my shiny new membership card out and ready to show the Costco bouncers when I walked in? Or that I wasn't supposed to toss my receipt into my cart after paying because we would need it again (when have I ever needed a receipt again?!).

Holding up the lines here does not go unnoticed. The same goes for wandering too slowly down an aisle. Let's just say that my naivete earned me more than a few glares on my outing.

People treat a Costco shop like a race, and I came in last place.

Is there such thing as too much?

I promise I'll get to all the positive things in a minute, but let's just get the bad stuff out of the way first.

This place is overwhelming. I get that it's kind of the point to have everything under the sun all in one store, but the sheer amount of time it took me to walk through the many aisles, and the frequency with which I would get distracted by some random deal, was absurd. It's way harder to go shopping intentionally when you're in Costco, faced with everything you didn't know you wanted.

I ended up buying things I most definitely do not need, just because they were sitting there with a price tag that I couldn't look away from. My self-control dissolved within minutes of being here.

It's consumerism at its finest, and I'm not going to pretend I'm above that (I love adding to my mountain of sweaters as much as the next girl), but it's definitely next level here.

I completely get the hype

I'm sure with time I'll become a more seasoned Costco shopper – learning what aisles to not venture down unless I was to add hundreds to my total, when to keep your membership card out and when to put it away, and how long I can stay under those fluorescent lights before I get a headache.

Once I nail all that, there will be nothing standing in my way of enjoying the simple pleasure of finding an unreal deal. Seeing the price of some of my go-to grocery items (my Prana granola was literally half the price?), I couldnt help but feel like a chump for paying the regular store prices this whole time.

While I wouldn't do all my grocery shopping here (mostly because I live in a two-person household and have no need for a pack of 15 chicken breasts), this place is a goldmine for pantry items, soft drinks, kitchen items, and also random things like rugs.

The clothes are actually nice?

This could have been a part of the point above, but it deserves its own shoutout. Costco Canada has actually nice clothes and good brand names, for ridiculously low prices.

I've seen people on TikTok going on about Costco finds, but it's another thing to actually see them for yourself (sadly, all the Aritzia fleece dupes were sold out, but I did find a cute $20 sweater that was similar). They also had Fabletics leggings, loads of Adidas stuff, $36 Levi jeans, and Kirkland dupes of the Tasman UGG slippers.

It may not be the most aesthetically pleasing shopping experience, but it gets the job done, and you can find genuinely nice stuff for less than half the price.

The gift cards alone could make a membership worth it

I hemmed and hawed about getting this membership for years. "It pays for itself!" my friends kept telling me. "It's Costco!!" I heard every time I complimented a sweater or enjoyed a delicious dip at a party. Yet still, I resisted.

Now I'm one of them, though, sitting here preaching about Costco.

Seriously, though – it's literally $65 for a yearly membership, and I'm pretty sure I saved that much on my first shopping experience. Yes, like I already said, I did buy a ton of stuff that I maybe wouldn't have otherwise – but still.

The thing that shook me the most was the gift card section, where they're selling things like $100 DoorDash cards for $79, and $500 Air Canada ones for $450.

Not to sound like a door-to-door salesman, but if you buy a couple of those you've already made the cost of your membership back.