Hi Ya,

I have never had a membership to Sams but have been there a few times with a friend of ours. Its okay, but I prefer Costco. We have been members there for a while now and we love it! Another great thing about Costco is their return policy is awesome!

I remember BJ's when we used to live in Upstate NY, we don't have any around here. I don't think we went there a whole lot, but it was okay. Its hard to remember and I'm sure they probably have changed some since then too.

I say go with a friend or you can go in and ask for a guest membership for the day -- I know that Sam's does this, as I've seen them in the paper, not sure if Costco does or not, but its worth a try asking anyways, that way you can "take a look" before you purchse the whole membership. Or like many people have said here, split the membership with a friend/friends. Friends of ours wanted to split our membership to Costco, but we figured we are gonna be a member either way, so we didn't do it, but we said they are welcome to come with us at any time if they need/want anything!!

BJ's? I'm not sure if they have that where I live...Near Detroit...... Never seen it before. I did get Costco and love it! The one near here also has gas station and I got to put gas for 3.98 while all the other gas station was 4.09 and up.

Oh Yeah I had forgotten about the gas! Also we got a discount on the price of our new car we purchased in 06 because we were Costco members!

BJ's is another wholesale club, I'm not sure where they are nationwide, I just know there was one when we lived in Upstate NY, cuz my DH was a member of the fire dept. there and they gave all their fire dept. free memberships.

I shop at BJ's. I love that store. You can save so much money buying in bulk.

Another thing to think about w/ BJs vs Costco. My mom & SIL are w/ BJs because there's one close to their houses... I'm with Costco, because it's next door to work. My SIL said she's been eating a lot of bison since it's leaner than beef and she can get it at BJs. I checked for it at Costco, and they don't carry it here, though I love many other things about Costco. I don't generally buy produce there because it goes bad before my SO & I can finish it, but I get frozen chicken breast, lean ground beef, Cheerios, and many other household things at a huge savings.