TLDR: Smaller Costco, no gas station, but great customer service…read more
So I finally did it: I got my own Costco membership. Once upon a time, I used to go to Costco with my brother pretty regularly (he has a membership). It was part of our hanging out time, and I loved it. I remember once a few years ago I was in a mall and there was a kiosk set up to sell Costco memberships. They were giving out free stuff, so I had to stop and take a look, haha. The man asked me if I was a Costco member and I said no, but my brother was and he'd take me every week or two, so I was familiar with Costco. He told me if I got my own membership I could go anytime I wanted, but if going to Costco was this thing my brother and I did and it was our quality time together then I shouldn't get my own membership and just continue to go with my brother. I thought that was such a lovely thing to say. And he ended up giving me the free cookies or chocolate or whatever it was they were giving out anyway, lol.
Well fast forward to present day and my brother is super busy with his kids, his work and other stuff and we haven't been to Costco together now for several years. He still goes regularly, but on his own right at opening on a weekend (he's on the other side of town, and I'm not an early bird, so I definitely don't go with him). He still buys me stuff when I ask him like Craisins, pumpkin seeds and almond butter (staples in my house), but I don't get to browse and see what's new in the warehouse.
What precipitated me getting a membership, believe it or not, was a jar of avocado mayo. I love avocado mayo (I'm talking 100% of the oil used is avocado oil, not the Hellman's Avocado mayo that's mostly canola oil with a bit of avocado oil mixed in) but it's expensive as hell at grocery stores (like $15 for a tiny 355ml jar). When I saw in the Costco flyer that a 946ml jar was only $9.49 I immediately asked my brother to buy it for me. However, it's only available at regular Costcos and my brother only goes to the Costco Business Centre these days. What's an avocado mayo loving girl to do in this situation? Get her own Costco membership and buy a jar herself!
My husband and I were in Kanata for an afternoon function, so we decided to head over to this Kanata Costco to buy a membership and the avocado mayo. We were served by Ziny at the Customer Service Desk, who was very courteous, informative and helpful. We got our memberships and headed into the warehouse.
This location is smaller than most Costcos and their food court area is also very small. They don't have a gas station either.
Anyway, we found the avocado mayo and it was even $0.50 less than advertised ($8.99). Score! We picked up a few other items too.
They were giving out samples of various items, but most of them were either not of interest to me, or there were hoards of people crowding around. Now I like free stuff, but my dislike of crowds is stronger, so I kept going. I did manage to get a sample of some S'mores clusters ;)
It was my first time at this Kanata Costco. I heard that the plan is to close it and open a new location at the Tanger Outlets that will be bigger and have a gas station. There is no timeline that I know of, and it's just what I heard, so not sure if it will happen.
Anyway, that's my Costco story.
This location is across from the Kanata Centrum. Obviously there's free parking on-site.
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