My First Visit to Costco Business Center - Is it Better Then Costco Warehouse?

Costco Business Center.. I didn't even know there was such a thing. I've been living under a rock because my wife gave the, “are you crazy” look when I told her I didn't know what that was!

Thus, today was the day that I visited my first Costco Business Center and to be honest I may have liked it more than the Costco Warehouse! The first thing that jumped out at me was it was smaller and there were not as many people in the store!

The second was some available merchandise at Costco Warehouse was absent from the floor. Apparel, jewelry, sporting goods, books, CD’s, toys, seasonal merchandise, pharmacy, optical department, bakery, tire or food court are at the Costco Business Center. Which is fine with me since I don't buy or use any of those areas except for the food court. I'll admit their pizza is pretty good and I do like their Polish Dogs quite a bit.

Yet, at the same time, they have many things that you won't see at Costco Warehouse such as many types of kitchen appliances. For instance, this mixer, which I would assume has no use in your own home kitchen due to the size! Although, if I am wrong please let me know where in the world you put this in your kitchen!

They also had a lot of larger scale microwaves, and fridges that were on display right near the entrance of the store.

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Another huge difference that I saw when I was at the Costco Business Center was the frozen area/cold area was much larger than in your typical Costco Warehouse. In the back corner, they even had large slabs of meat that you could only to be able to use during a huge family get reunion! The two photos below are only part of the cold section at the Costco Business Center. A secondary perk is the coats located on a hanging rack for people to wear if they were too cold while shopping in this area!

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Next, I entered the frozen refrigerator area I began noticing other differences from Costco Warehouse. They definitely carried different items in this area that I wasn't used to. The two items that stuck out the most to me were the Lamb and Goat carcasses. This isn't an item I expected to see the package and left in the freezer isle. Yet, I found right there in front of me! Beyond this item, everything else in this area was very similar to your Costco Warehouse.

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The rest of store felt as if I were in the Costco Warehouse at least without the crowd. Every Costco Warehouse in Southern California is packed. It is always hard to move around, people always stop right in the middle of everything and everybody. Yet, the Business Center wasn't very crowded it was easy to get around and every employee seems very knowledgeable with regard to where all the items were located.

The best part about it not being busy was the lines were quick and short. Granted, Costco lines always move pretty fast it still feels like it takes a while when you are behind 5 or 6 people with lots of items. No line at this Costco had more than 2 people and when it did. They opened up another lane which I appreciated. I hate waiting in line when I see employees standing near the front chit chatting instead of helping customers!

If I had to pick a location to shop at it would be Costco Business Center. Yet, I know that many locations don't have them and the one I went to is the only location in San Diego area. If you have one that is near your location you should check it out it may fit all or most of your needs with a bit less crowd!