I wanted to see how a Costco in Sweden differed from those in the United States. This Costco is easily reachable by commuter rail from Stockholm. Unlike US Costco stores, the greeter has 15 or so grocery carts, and when you arrive, they pull out a cart for you, which is a nice courtesy. If you have a Costco card, even one from the United States, you can shop here. The Costco itself seemed to be more dimly lit, and it had wider aisles. It had the usual Costco stuff. I was interested in the chicken, which was smaller and $8, not the $5 loss leader. But the Danish was $8 and not $12 for 2 containers in flavors not available in the US. I was looking for stuff unique to this Swedish Costco. Lots of cheeses that I didn't see elsewhere, and the aged gouda was similarly priced. I bought some pickled herring and Kalles, which the locals either love or hate. I love it. The real surprise was sushi. I have been to many costcos in many states and never seen sushi. Nice selection. I checked out the candy aisle. There are lots of different things here that you won't find in the US. I almost bought a big container of Haribo but decided that I like the selection in the bins of ICA better. I was tempted by this big huge tin of English toffee and chocolate, 2.2 kg but i only have a small carryon because I refuse to pay the airline fee for a checked bag. Nuts and trail mixes were about 10% higher. Take a walk through the refrigerated and frozen aisle. Lots of Kerfir, although in sweden I prefer filmolk, which I didn't see. There was a quart container of mango lassie, which seemed to be a better quality than the gallon I saw at San Francisco Business Center. Samples, yep, they have them. Costco is always generous with samples. Here they are even more generous. I had a big piece of cake from the bakery in a flavor that kind of tasted like tea. Then I was offered a big cookie and a full cup of coffee. The ambiance on a Wednesday around noon is that they seemed less busy. They appeared to have at least wine, but gates were up, so we passed it by. When I am on vacation, I would rather bring back food than a cheesy t shirt. I enjoyed my time here and probably would have bought more if I understood Swedish. The train ride back was delightful and well marked. read more

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