We took a trip to a New York City Costco and found it gives new meaning to the term 'one-stop shopping'

Sarah Schmalbruch
Costco00041Sarah Schmalbruch/INSIDERCostco’s glorious selection of muffins.
  • We took a trip to one of three Costco locations in New York City.
  • Costco is a membership-only warehouse club that’s been around for over 40 years in the US, and has 9 locations in Australia.
  • We discovered all the warehouse has to offer, from food to eye exams to clothing to electronics.
Costco is a wonderland of bulk products.

The membership-only warehouse club is the largest of its kind in America and Australia.

Costco’s selection runs the gamut, offering everything from frozen foods to engagement rings. There’s also its highly-underrated food court.

We recently took a trip to the mega-store in New York City, where we got lost in a maze of super-sized options.

Keep scrolling to see what it’s like to shop at Costco.

We visited the Costco in the East River Plaza shopping center in Harlem. It's one of three NYC locations.

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Costco.

The store first opened as Price Club in a former aeroplane hangar in San Diego in 1976. Four decades later, Costco is now a worldwide company whose sales reached $116 billion in 2016.

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A Costco shopper's loaded-up cart.

Costco's appeal to shoppers is its low prices, which are made possible because the store sells their products in bulk.

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Nuts.

In order to take advantage of the store's bulk selection, shoppers must be a Costco member. The store offers four types of membership, all of which come with an annual fee.

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Cereal.

Costco's food selection is impressive to say the least. The frozen snacks made us feel like we had time-travelled back to the 90s.

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Frozen snacks.

They even had specialties from other countries, like shrimp wonton soup.

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Shrimp wonton ramen.

And pierogis. Although we're not sure how authentic these foods are.

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Pierogis.

There was more cheese than you could probably eat in a lifetime.

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The cheese section.

The bakery was packed with pastries...

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Pastries.

... pies...

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Pies.

... and the beloved Costco cookies.

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Cookies.

It looked like some of the treats were even freshly made on the premises.

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If you're planning any kind of party, Costco is the place to shop.

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Prepared salads.

You can stock up on booze....

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Alcohol.

... and the birthday cakes look like they could feed a sizeable number of little kids... or adults.

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Birthday cake.

It immediately became apparent to us why shoppers with families love Costco. This already-seasoned pork tenderloin was just $4.29 per pound.

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Marinated pork tenderloin.

Salmon was more expensive -- but still relatively cheap -- at $8 per pound.

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Salmon.

You could get a whole rotisserie chicken for under $5.

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Chicken.

There's a whole room in the back of the store that's dedicated solely to produce.

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The back produce room.

Despite being sold in large quantities, the fruit still looked like it was high-quality.

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Fruit in the back produce room.

Not long into our shopping excursion, we came across what's arguably the best part of shopping at Costco: samples.

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A sample of cereal.

In an effort to entice shoppers, there are small stations throughout the store that serve samples of various products.

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A sample station.

We took full advantage and tried chicken nuggets...

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... sausage...

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... and Maltesers.

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Costco's selection of non-food products is equally amazing. The electronics section had flat-screen TVs in every size.

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The selection of TVs.

There were Apple laptops as well as a variety of other brands like Dell and HP.

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Laptops.

I wouldn't have thought Costco would carry fancy Nikon and Cannon cameras, but I was wrong. If you wanted, you could drop $1,600 on a camera here.

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Cameras.

After browsing electronics, we found ourselves in the optical area.

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The optical section.

It was filled with glasses, designer sunglasses, and even contacts.

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Besides offering an ample selection of vision aids, Costco also offers eye exams, meaning that you can walk away from the store with a new prescription, a new set of glasses, sunglasses, and contacts.

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The store offers eye exams.

And that's not the only medical service the warehouse offers. We came across a hearing aid center...

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Hearing aid center.

... and a full pharmacy. The idea of combining a grocery shopping trip with a trip to the doctor seemed odd, but convenient.

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The pharmacy.

We continued to discover other seemingly random but impressive services Costco provides shoppers with: There's photo developing and printing...

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The photo development and printing center.

... and a wireless center for purchasing a cell phone and setting up a plan.

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The wireless center.

From there we wandered over to the jewellery cases. The options were nothing to scoff at; the warehouse even sells engagement rings.

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One of the jewellery cases.

Costco even sells some pretty high-end watch brands. We were surprised to see a watch that cost close to $13,000.

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One of the more high-end watches on sale at the store.

Not far from the jewellery was a row of appliances that included washing machines, stoves/ovens, and refrigerators.

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The appliances section.

There were smaller appliances too, like the cult-favourite KitchenAid mixer. This was an unbeatable price, considering these usually retail for around $300.

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KitchenAid mixer.

Close by were rows upon rows of giant-sized toiletries. One stop at Costco and you won't have to go to a drugstore for a year.

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Shampoo and soap.

The middle of the store featured long tables piled high with stacks of clothing. There were options for men, women, and children.

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The clothing section.

With Halloween just around the corner, there were plenty of costumes to choose from.

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Children's costumes.

You could get a whole outfit at Costco if you wanted, down to your shoes.

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Shoes.

The clothing section was bordered by children's toys.

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Toys.

And a selection of lawn decorations that made us wonder if it was October or December.

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Holiday lawn decorations.

A Costco shopping trip wouldn't be complete without a stop in the food court.

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The food court.

The food court is said to be delicious.

It's a hungry shoppers dream full of greasy, salty and sugary options like pizza, hot sandwiches, and churros, and the perfect way to end a long day shopping.

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The food court options.

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