The 5 Weirdest Things You Can Buy at Costco Stores Around the Globe

The 5 Weirdest Things You Can Buy at Costco Stores Around the Globe

Woman pushing cart down warehouse club store aisle.

Image supply: Getty Images

Who is aware of? It’s doable that the ugliest seafood can be the most scrumptious. 


Key factors

  • There are 847 Costco shops unfold throughout 14 international locations.
  • Each location carries objects that attraction most to its members.
  • While the bodily format of most shops are related, it is the meals that units them aside.

To be honest, “bizarre” is in the eye of the beholder. What appears unique to us right here in the U.S. could also be an on a regular basis staple in a foreign country. Still, we thought it might be enjoyable to be taught extra about the forms of issues Costco carries in shops exterior the U.S. 

With 847 shops unfold throughout 14 international locations, it is no marvel the retail goliath boasts almost 121 million members. You can discover a Costco in every of the following international locations: 

  • Canada
  • United Kingdom
  • Taiwan
  • Korea
  • Japan
  • Australia
  • Mexico
  • Spain
  • Iceland
  • France
  • China
  • New Zealand
  • Sweden

There’s some overlap in most Costco areas. For instance, you may see home equipment, big stuffed animals, clothes, and books in almost all shops. It’s the meals objects provided that tends to set one Costco aside from one other. 

1. More sweet than is wholesome

If you are in the temper for chocolate, you may be glad to know that Costco Australia carries a 22-pound Cadbury Dairy milk chocolate bar. That’s proper. You can stroll into an Australian Costco, seize a cup of taro milk tea with boba, and stroll by means of the retailer looking for a sweet bar bigger than most younger kids. On your method out, you are going to wish to cease at the meals court docket for a bath of Vegemite. 

2. High-end designer purses

While it might be jarring to bump right into a show of designer purses whereas looking for groceries and a brand new teapot, that is what occurs if you’re in a Costco in Australia or China. You can discover something from Jimmy Choo, to Prada, to Chanel lined up on tiered tables. 

By the method, you is likely to be to know that on Costco’s opening day in Shanghai, the retailer was so overrun with folks in search of (*5*) that visitors was disrupted and the wait time to park was as much as three hours. Oh, and as a result of the crush of individuals, the retailer was compelled to shut early to permit those that’d already made their method in to finish their purchasing. 

3. Liquor-infused ice cream

What’s to not love about France? Just exterior of Paris is considered one of the nation’s two Costco warehouse shops. Inside you may discover gigantic cheese wheels, big bottles of wine, bulk crepes, and a liquor-infused ice cream. With an alcohol quantity of three.3%, that is the actual stuff. You have a few choices. To provide you with a greater thought of what you are trying at, one ice cream possibility is a salted caramel with Belgian chocolate, and infused with bourbon.

4. Rice, a lot rice

In any of the 30 Costco areas in Japan you may discover the ordinary suspects: Dried sardines you’ll be able to eat straight from the bag, salty little snacks known as Nori Maki, and fried squid. But you may additionally discover rice. While there’s nothing odd about discovering rice on the market in a Japanese Costco, it is the sheer quantity which will blow your hair again slightly. There’s a complete aisle devoted to huge baggage of rice. It’s significantly spectacular. 

5. An array of surprising seafood

South Korea is residence to 18 Costco shops, and each carries a few of the least enticing seafood to be pulled out of the deep blue sea. There’s the recent sea cucumber, so ugly it hides on the backside of the ocean flooring. Nearby you may discover complete, uncooked octopus, the stuff of youngsters’s nightmares. And lastly, there’s abalone, the least enticing of all mollusks, if such a factor is feasible. In the proper chef’s palms, every of those creatures are undoubtedly scrumptious. It’s the sight of such a motley array of deep sea creatures that takes some getting used to. 

As talked about, what appears bizarre to us is taken into account a delicacy in different international locations, and it is good that residents of these international locations have entry to the meals they take pleasure in. It’s notably handy that they will choose them up at a retailer promoting all the things from mega-packs of socks to pet insurance. 

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