---
title: "Shopping at Costco as an international visitor"
site: "The Quiet Vacationer"
site_url: https://quietvacationer.com/
url: https://quietvacationer.com/2026/07/21/shopping-at-costco-as-an-international-visitor/
date_published: 2026-07-21
author: "The Quiet Vacationer"
categories:
  - "Guides"
tags:
  - "United States"
---

# Shopping at Costco as an international visitor

You don’t need to live in the United States to shop at Costco.

If you travel regularly to countries with Costco warehouses, such as the US, China, Japan, South Korea or Australia, a membership can be surprisingly worthwhile. I finally signed up before a trip to the United States in late 2025 after years of tagging along on friends’ and relatives’ memberships, and it completely changed how I approached shopping during my travels.

I’d first visited a Costco back in 2014 while staying with relatives in Sydney. I remember expecting an ordinary supermarket and instead walking into what felt more like an airport hangar filled with groceries. Everything was enormous: the warehouse itself, the shopping trolleys, and the quantities on sale. I left fascinated, but living in Singapore, there wasn’t much reason to think about Costco again.

![My first ever visit to a Costco in Sydney, Australia back in 2014](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-au-sydney-1.jpg)
*My first ever visit to a Costco in Sydney, Australia back in 2014*

Singapore briefly had its own take on the warehouse club concept. FairPrice’s [Warehouse Club](https://www.facebook.com/groups/warehouseclubsg/) at Joo Koon even stocked Kirkland Signature products, but the concept never really caught on and the store closed in 2024. Costco once again became something I only associated with overseas trips.

## Signing up for a Costco membership

I bought a standard Gold Star membership online before leaving for the United States.

The annual fee was US$65, although Costco was running a promotion that included a US$40 Digital Costco Shop Card for new members. The Shop Card arrived by email about two weeks after signing up, reducing my effective first-year cost to US$25.

Costco rarely discounts the membership itself. Instead, it periodically runs promotions that include a Digital Costco Shop Card, so it’s worth checking for current offers before signing up.

Collecting the physical membership card was straightforward. On our first visit, the membership desk verified my details, accepted my Singapore passport, took a quick photograph, and printed both my card and my partner’s complimentary Household Card within a few minutes.

Whether the membership makes sense after the first year depends entirely on your travel habits. For [our California trip](https://quietvacationer.com/2026/03/15/america-the-beautiful-los-angeles-pacific-coast/), the savings comfortably exceeded the membership fee, but everyone’s calculations will be different.

![Costco Gold Star membership card](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-11.jpg)
*Costco Gold Star membership card*

## The stores we visited

Before getting my own membership, I’d visited Costco a handful of times in Sydney, Las Vegas and New York. Once I had my own membership, though, I started treating Costco as another stop whenever we were road-tripping in California.

On my United States trip in December 2025, we made it to five Costco locations: San Francisco, South San Francisco, Sand City, San Luis Obispo, and Livermore. I’ll admit, perhaps more Costco than most people aspire to, but each visit turned up something worth buying.

In my most recent trip in May 2026, I visited the San Francisco, Sand City, and Livermore outlets with a colleague as it was his first time visiting a Costco.

![Costco San Francisco entrance](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-3.jpg)
*Costco San Francisco entrance*

Despite Costco being designed around drivers, it’s still perfectly possible to visit by public transport. I shopped at the San Francisco warehouse by taking BART and Muni with a couple of foldable shopping bags. It naturally limited how much I could buy, but it worked well enough for smaller grocery runs.

## The shopping

Walking into Costco still feels slightly overwhelming. Even after several visits, the scale still catches me off guard. Everything is sold in quantities that simply don’t exist in Singapore, whether it’s a two-pack of cereal boxes, a kilogram of mixed nuts or a trolley overflowing with paper towels.

![Costco cereals section](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-2.jpg)
*Costco cereals section*

![Costco cereals section](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-1.jpg)
*Costco cereals section*

The biggest difference isn’t just quantity but value. Some products simply cost so much less than what I’m used to paying in Singapore that I ended up buying them repeatedly across multiple trips. Kirkland Signature walnuts became one of those purchases. I bought a bag on my first visit and ended up buying another on a later trip because even after factoring in exchange rates, the price was still difficult to beat.

![Costco’s Kirkland Signature walnuts](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-7.jpg)
*Costco’s Kirkland Signature walnuts*

Of course, no Costco visit is complete without trying the famous US$4.99 rotisserie chicken. It’s become something of a legend because Costco has kept the price unchanged for decades despite rising costs, treating it as a classic loss leader.

![Costco’s famous US$4.99 rotisserie chicken](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-10.jpg)
*Costco’s famous US$4.99 rotisserie chicken*

![Costco food section](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-9.jpg)
*Costco food section*

## Checking out

The checkout queues at Costco can be long. There’s no way around that. Costco has been rolling out self-checkout lanes at some locations, and the Scan and Go mobile feature is available in more warehouses now, but on a weekend afternoon at the San Francisco store, you’re joining a queue either way. It moves, but budget the time.

One thing that caught me out initially was that Costco doesn’t provide shopping bags. Like many warehouse clubs, you’re expected to bring your own reusable bags or load your purchases directly into your trolley before transferring everything into your car. That’s perfectly normal if you’re driving, which most Costco shoppers are, but it’s worth planning ahead if you’re relying on public transport.

![Costco San Francisco exit](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-5.jpg)
*Costco San Francisco exit*

![Haul from Costco San Francisco](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-4.jpg)
*Haul from Costco San Francisco*

## The food court

No Costco visit feels complete without stopping at the food court. The US$1.50 hot dog and soda combo has held its price for longer than some of its customers have been alive; the co-founder of the company is reputed to have told a CEO who proposed raising the price that he would kill him first. Whether apocryphal or not, the hot dog remains US$1.50.

![Costco food court](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-12.jpg)
*Costco food court*

## The gas station

Most Costco warehouses in the US have a gas station, and it’s typically the cheapest option in the vicinity. The catch is that you can only use it with a Costco membership and it must be paid with either a Visa card or a Costco Shop Card. I filled up at a few of them during the trip and found the prices consistently lower than nearby non-Costco stations. That said, I did find one independent station close enough to a Costco to be within range of their pricing, so it’s not an absolute guarantee. Worth checking if you’re driving.

![Costco Gas Station](https://cdn.quietvacationer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/costco-us-6.jpg)
*Costco Gas Station*

## Is it worth it as an international visitor?

If you live somewhere with a Costco, the decision comes down to how much you shop. As someone living in Singapore, it’s really a question of how often I travel.

For me, the answer has been an easy yes. The first year’s membership effectively cost US$25 after the promotional Shop Card, and the savings from several visits to Costco warehouses around the world more than covered that. More importantly, having my own membership meant I could drop into any Costco we happened to pass instead of relying on friends or relatives.

Would I recommend an international visitor to sign up? Probably not. But if you’re already planning trips to countries where Costco operates and enjoy bringing home groceries, snacks or household items that you would have otherwise bought elsewhere, the savings are well above the membership fee that I paid.

Just remember that the biggest limitation isn’t Costco’s membership fee, it’s your luggage allowance.

---

*Originally published on [The Quiet Vacationer](https://quietvacationer.com/2026/07/21/shopping-at-costco-as-an-international-visitor/)*