CostCo vs. HEB – Who has cheaper wine in Austin?
As a part of our ongoing effort to find the best wine at the best price, I recently purchased a CostCo membership to check out their wine prices. This weekend, I stopped by and, I must say, these are amazing stores.
If you are not familiar with CostCo, they are kind of like a high-end Sam’s Club. They sell big lots and overstocked items they buy in bulk. They also have a house label, Kirkland Signature.
On this visit the wines available were mostly mid-range wines (under $25). They do have some high end wines, but only Dom Perignon seems to be consistently available, and it must be their loss leader. The wine is available at CostCo for $140, which is less than wholesale.
Two everyday wines of note at CostCo were the Care Rosé at $7.49 and the Pascual Toso 2006 Malbec at $8.99. Parker gave the rosé 90 points, and it looks like a Parker wine. The wine was given 24 hours skin contact, making it the darkest rosé of the season, and it has lots of structure and more body than most rosés. I like this wine. It might be a little big for some foods such as grilled shrimp or white fish, but it goes great with a hamburger.
The ‘06 Malbec from Toso is one of our favorite wines of the summer and a good value. It is interesting to note that you can get the Toso ‘06 Malbec at local HEBs for the same bottle price. If you are looking for more than one bottle, HEB is currently offering a 10% discount if you buy 6 or more bottles, making the case price at HEB lower than the bottle price at CostCo.
If you have a CostCo membership, be sure to check-out the wines when you shop there, but remember to compare wine prices. Just because you pay someone 50 bucks a year to shop at their store does not mean they are always going to offer the best price.
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Funny you should post this as I had just posted earlier about Texas liquor laws in another thread…
I have it on good authority (a knowledgeable employee of a major Texas wine distributor) that according to Texas law, you can purchase alcohol at any establishment that normally requires a membership without having to purchase one.
This also holds true to the pharmacies of these establishments. Sam’s and CostCo have great prices on many meds from my experience. Keep in mind that so far, I have not been able to find this in writing from the TABC, but it might be worth a shot. I’ll keep looking and post back here if I can find something that can be verified from the state.
Colin,
I was not aware that Texas law had a provision that prevented exclusivity in the sale of alcohol or pharmaceuticals. Costco tries to control this activity by discouraging people from entering the store that do not have a membership card.
I would be interested in seeing the statute or regulatory clause that allows non-members to shop for alcohol or pharmaceuticals. I think that there are plenty of senior citizen wine drinkers that would find that very interesting.
Cheers,
Neil
I worked at Costco for 4 years and I can confirm that you do not need a membership to use the pharmacy or buy wine and beer. Also, the liquor stores attached to most Costco warehouses in Texas do not require the membership. When you get to the “checkpoint” at the front of the warehouse, all you have to do is tell the card checker that you are only shopping for alcohol and pharmaceuticals and that you don’t need a membership. They will also usually call a cab for you immediately and hand you a complimentary guide to dependency.
Adam,
Thanks for the information. I guess I could have saved myself some money.
Cheers,
Neil
No worries Neil. Costco does guarantee everything they sell, as well as their memberships. If you don’t buy anything else there but wine, beer and drugs, you can get your money back for the membership. I buy a ton of stuff there, so it’s very worth it for me.
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