Costco Business Centers for Restaurant Supplies -- West Coast

[acgold7]

There's already a thread on this over on the Seattle Boards, but that one focuses exclusively on the Seattle Area. But as we've referred to these in the general Costco threads before, and these are available to anyone up and down most of the West Coast, I thought it would be a good idea to consolidate some general info about these here.

Even if you don't own a restaurant, these Costco Business Centers are a remarkable change from the regular stores. They don't have clothes, DVDs, books or any of the normal stuff, but they do have a virtually endless supply of Restaurant Goods and Foods. Takeout containers, individual flavors of chips in vending machine sizes, cuts of meat you won't find in the regular stores, alternatives to the regular grocery items found at a typical Costco -- all are here.

They are open to all Costco members and the prices are the same. They have extended hours but are closed on Sunday.

Here's a page (which you can't get to from the Costco.com website) that shows their locations:

http://www.costco.com/Service/FeaturePage.aspx?ProductNo=11535296&cm_sp=Office-_-LeftNav-_-BusinessCenters

They are in Lynnwood and Fife, WA; Hayward, Hawthorne, Commerce and San Diego, CA; Vegas and Phoenix. And as we've discussed on the other thread, there is essentially a whole Business Center dropped into a regular (but massive) Costco in Tukwila, WA as well.

And you can go online to check prices and even order, and they will deliver to your business:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/BDLandin...

as long as you are in the local area of the Business Center. Enter your zip on the landing page and you can browse what they have. Note that the online prices are about 5% higher than the walk-in store prices.

There's one not too far from me and I shop there more often than my regular Costco.

Anyway, worth checking out if you are near one.

[johnb]

How do these compare to Restaurant Depot?

[acgold7]

I haven't been to Restaurant Depot, as there aren't any in my immediate area, but a review posted on another thread notes that the prices are lower at Costco. I'll see if I can find the quote.

Here's the post:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7906...

It's a quote from a review of the San Diego location.

I noted on the RD website that you need a resale number to get a membership and shop there. Maybe they don't enforce this, but I think that's the reason I haven't checked them out to date.

[chez cherie]

very similar--i actually read the original post this morning, and decided to head down to commerce to check it out. (figured it wouldn't be crowded on a saturday, since itt caters to business folk, and it's in commerce..and it wasn't crowded at 10:30 ish. i would poke both eyes out before hitting my regular costco on a weekend.)
the walk-in has less produce offerings than rd, but the herbs in large amounts are similar. the meat offerings are fewer than at rd. there was a section for coffee bars and yogurt shops, with torani and other flavored syrups in large bottles, sprinkles, chopped nuts, and the like. they had sheet pans, open stock utensils for tabletop as well as libbey glassware, and some other rd-like stuff.
i walked out without much--a couple instant-read thermometers that were a good price, a couple (knock off) silpats and sheet pans i needed, and a waiter's corkscrew (mainly because i've never bought anything for $2 at costco!)
it was interesting, but since im also a member at rd, i won't likely be back.

edited to add: rd definitely enforces the membership thing--you not only have to flash your card (like at costco), you have to scan it in on a monitor, and there is someone watching. (you need the resale info to get the card in the first place.)

[cstr]

I go there often, in So CA, great buys on commercial pans, knives, kitchen supplies etc and they carry some food products that you won't find at the regular Costco stores. Also, they also sell bags of fresh herbs that blow away super market prices.