Costco: Not Just for Those Who Need the Big Carts

A freezer or second refrigerator is an essential
appliance for Costco's small households.

In the August issue of Costco Connection the magazine surveys empty-nest and other small households about why they continue to shop at the bulk retailer.

Dennis Todic, PA: “I buy tires, got my eyeglasses, hearing aids and some of the services like carpeting in the past,” he says. “Bulk is not a factor.”

Derek Zehr, Kitchener, Ontario: Derek Zehr lives by himself, but that doesn’t stop him from shopping for paper products, detergent and cleaning supplies from the warehouse. “I like buying meat in bulk, as well, and I vacuum seal it into individual portions and store them in my freezer,” he says. “I have limited space, but I put shelves up in half of my walk-in closet for my Costco pantry!”

Michele Mathieu, CA: “Shopping sale items, selecting our favorite prepared and frozen foods, and freezing extra bread, chicken and deli ham makes it possible for Costco to be our primary same-day grocery provider,” she says. “Costco is also our first choice when we have a large purchase, such as my wife’s leather reclining chair.

Josh Dill, WA: He lives in a small apartment with his 9-year-old daughter. But that doesn’t mean he shops small...He thinks strategically about his purchases, buying items with a long shelf life to make smaller meals, and freezing the rest. “The package of five frozen single-pound tubes of ground beef is perfect for our dinners,” he says. “I can thaw just the right amount without worrying about waste, and it’s always on hand when I’ve failed to plan ahead.”

A membership still can benefit one- or two-person households who buy high-quantity items that don't take up much space, for example AA batteries and vitamin supplements. It's also suitable for empty-nesters who do have the space, though a freezer or second fridge, which is what we have, is essential. I also have found services such as optical, hearing-aid, and tire installation to be a good value.

Dennis Todic, PA: “But I will be a Costco member until I am not able to shop anymore.”

Sears: Soon to be Found Only in History Books

The Sears store in Concord, CA (SFGate)

When we moved to the Bay Area in the mid-70's there was a Sears, Roebuck & Co. store in or near every town. I've bought Kenmore washers, dryers, and refrigerators from Sears in Fremont, Daly City, and San Mateo. I've had cars repaired at the Sears in Palo Alto and San Mateo. The Sears catalog we got in the mail was as thick as a phonebook and far more colorful. 50 years later Sears will soon have only one store in California:

With the impending closures of the company’s Whittier and Burbank outposts in Southern California, the massive location in Concord’s Sunvalley Shopping Center will likely be the sole survivor in the state.

Sears is now but a shadow of its former self. Perhaps best known for its mail-order catalog, auto centers, vast quantities of tools and appliances and portrait studios that pumped out millions of cheesy family photos over the decades, the 139-year-old chain that once boasted about 3,500 stores is slated to only have six in the entire country, according to the Mercury News.

Like Pan Am, Blockbuster, Woolworth, and Radio Shack, Sears once dominated its markets and was an important part of the business landscape. Soon it will exist only in our memories.

Lucky Leaves But We May Have Lucked Out

The former Lucky location has been vacant since April 29, 2025

During the 40+ years we have lived in Foster City the Edgewater Place Shopping Center has always had a supermarket, first Alpha Beta, then Lucky Market, then Albertsons, and finally Lucky again. There never was a vacancy during these changeovers, however, because all the aforementioned stores are brands owned by or related to Save Mart Companies. Over the last several years Save Mart has been closing Bay Area stores that it calls "underperforming," which include Lucky's in Fremont, Millbrae, and Foster City.

The Foster City store, less than a 15 minute walk from our house, has been vacant since April 29th. Many of us had "there goes the neighborhood" fears, because having empty storefronts is a strong predictor of blight. But we were overly worried.

Osaka Fremont (Mehta/Chronicle)

The Osaka Marketplace is moving in.

A Japanese specialty grocery store is expanding with a new Bay Area location, becoming the most recent entry in a flurry of Asian supermarket openings in the region.

Osaka Marketplace has signed a lease in Foster City at the Edgewater Place Shopping Center. The location is the vacant 35,000-square-foot space at 919 Edgewater Blvd., where a Lucky supermarket previously operated. The incoming retailer is best known for its selection of Japanese and Asian goods, as well as fresh seafood and prepared foods.

The store is slated to open in November. This will be Osaka Marketplace’s third Bay Area location, with its other stores located in Fremont and Pleasant Hill. The company is currently working to expand in Northern California and Arizona.

The 123,000-square-foot Edgewater Place is currently in the middle of a capital improvement program to refresh its common areas and parking lot, among other amenities. The shopping plaza has attracted a variety of Asian dining options such as Chinese restaurant Rickshaw Corner, Yemeni Coffee house Sana’a Cafe and Ritha Indian Restaurant.

“We’re thrilled to join the Foster City community and bring our authentic Japanese grocery experience to Edgewater Place,” Osaka Marketplace owner Kazuhiro Takeda said in a statement. “From fresh produce and seafood to prepared meals and pantry staples, we’re looking forward to serving the community and celebrating the tastes and traditions of the neighborhood we now call home.”

The incoming store is located not far from San Mateo, known for its Japanese American heritage. It’s also the latest in a wave of Asian specialty supermarkets across the Bay Area that looks to satiate ever-increasing demand, as seen in the recent opening of the Korean grocery store Jagalchi at Daly City’s Serramonte Center, which drew hourslong lines. Future Asian grocery store arrivals include Tokyo Central at Emeryville’s Bay Street mall, T&T at San Jose’s Westgate Center and the long-anticipated H Mart in Dublin.

It's difficult for shopping centers to replace long-term anchor tenants who leave because they're experiencing profitability problems--look at San Francisco. It's even rarer to have a tenant upgrade. Foster City may have lucked out.

A Cool Name, But That's All

At the old India Cash and Carry, 2013

When the Charter Square shopping center was demolished to make way for the Beach Park Elementary School, only two tenants were viable enough to relocate, the Foster City post office and the India Cash and Carry. In their new quarters close to City Hall. Foster City's sole post office in our town of 30,000 residents has a captive audience, while India Cash and Carry caters to the burgeoning South Asian population of tech and medical personnel.

"Cash and carry" evokes a simpler, 19th century way of doing business, where obligations are settled on the spot with cash and the goods are carried out, not delivered. Of course, the business doesn't operate like that at all with credit cards being the primary payment mechanism and delivery options readily available.

Nevertheless, the name sounds cool.

First Draw Soy Sauce

One sign that a society is affluent is the large number of offerings for a single class of product. For example, the bread aisle has over a dozen choices; not that long ago the decision was between white and whole wheat.

I also remember when there were only a couple of soy sauce brands on the shelf. Now there are light, dark, and special blends for cooking seafood and dipping dumplings. And there are at least three different manufacturers for each.

Lee Kum Kee (LKK), the company that makes a high-end oyster sauce, is selling a "first draw" soy sauce for 2-3 times the price of the regular stuff:

Compared to dark soy sauce, light soy sauce has a lighter color and is less salty, and is best used for seasoning and fine tuning the flavors of a dish. Based on the sauce’s quality, it can be further divided into “first draw,” collected when the beans are fermented for the first time. Its quality is the highest with a richer taste. It occupies a similar position to extra-virgin in the world of olive oil. And naturally, it’s sold for more. The second and third extractions are known respectively as “gold label” or “silver label,” affordable and found in the pantry of just about every average household.

It sounded like the language that wine connoisseurs use to distinguish the objects of their affection. Fully aware that I was probably being played, I bought a small bottle for $7.29 at 99 Ranch. At my age I should live a little.

Saving One Dollar at 99 Ranch

This year I've started to look my age. I've lost hair, and what I have remaining has turned white. Which is background to the following:

We've been shopping at the local 99 Ranch Market for 20 years. As I was checking out, the middle-aged Chinese man at the register said, "I'll get you a senior discount." I didn't even know 99 Ranch had one. Sure, I shrugged.

He put his hands on his hips and bellowed, "Senior....senior!" Several customers turned their heads. Apparently the senior discount had to be approved by the manager. She came over in less than a minute and scanned her cellphone over a reader, authorizing the transaction. So 99 Ranch does use current technology, except for the part where cashiers yell for the manager.

I studied the receipt. The vegetables, ramen, and pastries cost $23.59, and the 5% senior discount saved $1.18. After writing the check to the U.S, Treasury for our 2023 income taxes, every penny counts.

Mourning Macy's

December, 1972: Union Square glitters (Chron photo)

As alluded to in yesterday's post, the loss of Macy's is the end of a San Francisco cultural icon.

Department stores were already cultural hubs in San Francisco when Macy’s opened in 1947. The working class Emporium on Market Street had been the center of San Francisco holiday celebrations, hosting a Santa Claus parade and placing rides on the building’s roof. Union Square’s City of Paris department store was the upscale king, with its stained glass atrium roof and 70-foot Christmas trees.

But Macy’s San Francisco was the juggernaut that managed to eclipse and outlast all comers. Taking up three-quarters of a city block, it felt like the epicenter of retail in San Francisco, if not the entire state.

With the success of the San Francisco flagship, Macy’s California expansion was swift. By 1978 there were 22 stores in California, with plans for more. Profits were so high that Macy’s California President Ernest Molloy was sent to bail out the struggling New York stores, later becoming CEO of the entire company.

..Tuesday’s announcement will land harder on San Francisco residents than the recent departures of other major retail outlets like Nordstrom and Old Navy. Macy’s is where San Franciscans bought their back-to-school outfits and their first suits and prom dresses. In some cases, it’s where they took the 38 Geary during Christmastime to ogle the store’s elaborate window displays and make their first San Francisco memories, period.

As the city tries to reinvent its downtown core, and perhaps the identity of its entire shopping district, Macy’s San Francisco will be the hardest void to fill.

Retail reached its zenith at the end of the 20th century. Out-of-town shoppers flocked to Macy's and the other stores on Union Square; there was nothing like them in the rest of the Bay Area.

The suburbs grew more affluent, the malls got bigger and glitzier, and San Francisco became grimier and unpleasant. There was no reason to fight the traffic into downtown and pay $20 for parking.

Those of us who were there mourn the City that was, and the wonderment that was lost.

Sliver of Good News

My cart was filled like every other one.

On Friday the Costco parking lot was jammed with cars looking for a parking space. Usually I leave immediately and wait for a more opportune time, like one hour before closing. However these purchases had to be made today, as we were making brown-bag lunches on Saturday for Sunday's distribution in Redwood City.

It took 15 minutes to get a distant parking space, then another hour to buy all the ingredients on the list. It didn't help that there were shopping carts going in all directions, carts stopping at the sampler tables, and little kids running with abandon. It's a wonder that I've never seen someone hurt.

Hoping to impress the cashier, I estimated the total out loud would be $325. It turned out to be $308.

That's one sliver of good news, i.e., food prices have abated slightly. Happy New Year (almost)!

Stonestown: Turning the Corner

The parking lot was filled, but Stonestown
wasn't crowded on the day after Black Friday

Stonestown Galleria has become a regular stop for us on the way back from appointments on the west side of San Francisco. The mall has very few empty storefronts and has become a hangout for young urban Asians:

Lately, on San Francisco’s west side, where I [reporter Harry Mok] live now, Stonestown Galleria is in a mini-boom, with new stores and restaurants replacing many of those that closed before or didn’t survive the pandemic.

While there will be Christmas decorations and Santa Claus, Black Friday at Stonestown will also have a decidedly Asian vibe, especially the food options.

On a recent visit, I noticed that seven of the 10 restaurants in the food court were Asian, along with a few others around the mall. And, as I was walking around, it dawned on me that nearly everyone there was Asian American.

One sign that retail has turned the corner: we used to go to particular restaurants or stores, but now the Mall itself has become the destination.

Chickened Out

The Foodland at the Ala Moana Shopping Center has a large selection of chips, sandwiches, and snacks.

Foodland's target customers are tourists who want to downshift from fancy Waikiki restaurants, as well as snowbirds who want to cook occasionally.

There were boxes of fried chicken skins laid out on a table. I imagine they're similar to fried pork rinds, which have become popular for those who want a tasty, low-carb snack.

At $14.99 a pound the chicken skins weren't moving. It's not a good value for the locals, who know that they can buy an individual chicken dinner for that price. And I suspect that chicken skins are far down the list of Mainlanders' snack preferences.

When I return in February, if the product is still on display I'd be surprised if the price is still up there. At $7 or $8 I'd spring for a box.

Good Reasons to Stay

Less than a 10-minute walk from our home.

A San Francisco couple in their late 60's weighs the pros and cons of moving back to the Midwest. The negatives about San Francisco have been publicized for years, but it's rare to hear about the positives.

Many of Karen Yoder's reasons for remaining in SF are similar to mine for staying in the Bay Area. (These I have highlighted in yellow.)

We still have so much to do before we leave San Francisco, and we finally have the time and ease of mind to do it.

We’re within a 15-minute bike ride from major museums, concert halls, theaters, sports stadiums and other cultural offerings we seldom visited before. I’ve mapped out the free-admission days at the Asian Art Museum and the DeYoung Museum.

We really should attend the renowned San Francisco Opera at least once. And we never get enough of Giants games, sitting on the upper deck looking down at first base and out over the bay, our bicycle in free valet parking.

We want to explore more streets by bike, climb all the beautifully tiled stairs up the city’s hills, discover more hole-in-the-wall restaurants and find the best fresh fish in Sunset-district markets.

We have a network of friends, built up since we arrived in 1989, and a strong church community. Some of those friends live in our immediate neighborhood, which has a small-town feel. We run into acquaintances on the sidewalk, shopkeepers know us and a neighbor keeps us abreast of our block’s news when she walks by with her dog.

Within an easy walk [blogger's note: or ten-minute drive] are three grocery stores, our hospital, a library, a post office, a live-music venue and dozens of restaurants and coffee shops. Our “pantry,” as we call it, is the corner store across the street.

A few blocks from our house begin the car-free paths leading through Golden Gate Park and to the Pacific Ocean, where other cyclists recognize us and wave.

And all that’s just in the city. We frequently bike across the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County or south down Highway 1 along the ocean. The Sierra Nevada are about a three-hour drive away.

We also have unfinished business: We want to continue our research on our 1893 house’s history, according to which the first owners emigrated from Eastern Europe and had a business in the Gold Country before settling in the city. The next owner kicked out his mother-in-law, who then sued him. The house begs us to tell its story.

Meanwhile, we’re sharing its charm with others. We open the door to friends nearly each week for dinner and an evening of quilting. We offer it as a space for fundraisers, music performances and seminars. We greet curious tourists from our stoop and give them a quick history of our block.

Why would we want to leave now?

Well, for one, as a reader writes to remind us: “San Francisco is one of the most expensive places in the country.”

That may be true for housing costs and taxes, but our remaining mortgage payments are low. As retirees, we don’t have some expenses that make living costly, such as school tuition. We seldom eat out. We ditched our car during the pandemic and maximize senior discounts.

I could go on.

It’s a dilemma. I love San Francisco, and I love Kansas. I share the sentiments of author Allen Say, who has straddled lives in Japan and California. In his children’s book “Grandfather’s Journey,” he writes: “The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other.”

We’re beginning to talk of a hybrid solution: Sell the house, move to a small condo, and divide our time among the city, Kansas and travel.

We like our doctors and know how to get around the area. More than that, we know how to get around our house. The ability to find light switches and the refrigerator in the dark should not be underestimated!

Finally, we're lucky that economics is not the prime motivator that it is with many people. We enjoy a beer-budget lifestyle and are unlikely to outlive our savings.

Relocating to a cheaper area just to leave the kids a bigger estate is not a good enough reason to move. Yes, we're aware of other reasons, but this is not that post.

Worn Out

While shopping in San Bruno, I was ticketed for an unreadable license plate (picture, right). The plate is perfectly decipherable to human eyes, but traffic scanners have trouble discerning it.

I wrote a letter contesting the $50 fine. Not only did I point out that I didn't see(!) the problem, I also noted that the Camry had been parked outdoors for 16 years.

Any degradation in the license plate had to be due to wear and tear from exposure to the elements, and surely the law didn't mean to fine us folks who couldn't afford a garage or car port. The pity-me social-justice-y argument didn't work, and a harshly worded notice for $50 arrived four months later.

So I paid up.
1) Saving $50 wasn't worth pursuing the matter.
2) I did feel sorry for San Bruno. The plague of homelessness, drug use, and property crime has spread south from San Francisco, and SB is feeling financial pressure.

Later a Foster City cop pulled me over with a warning that the license plate was unreadable. At the DMV the cost of replacement plates was $22, under the condition that I give the old ones back.

The only advice I have after all this is to pick your fights with City Hall, because most of them aren't worth the price.

All the Time in the World

Market City is one of the larger neighborhood shopping centers on Oahu. A mile from the family home, it's your humble blogger's regular destination for supermarket shopping and picking up dinner.

The restaurants are busy, but rarely do the lines go out the door and never do they stretch 50 feet. The lady at the Korean barbecue said the new Kamitoku Hot Pot restaurant was charging $5 for a $15 meal. It was a "soft opening" pre-celebration of the "grand opening" in March.

Yelp reviewers already have cautioned that the wait for a table could be well over an hour. That didn't seem to deter the young-ish crowd that was happily chatting away, texting, and taking pictures.

I ordered take-out, bought a few items at Foodland, and returned to the car. After 30 minutes the line had barely moved. When you're young, you have all the time in the world.

The Day After Christmas

Left: during the week before Christmas the mall wasn't particularly busy. We did our shopping at the Apple Store and exited to the plaza. There was no one within 50 feet of the Christmas tree.

Right: On the day after Christmas the parking lots were filled. This time people milled around the Christmas tree taking selfies. The Apple Store required everyone to make an appointment.

We stopped by to make an exchange. The recipient of an iPad wanted more memory (he paid for the upgrade), and fortunately one was in inventory.

We went to restaurant row and bought a cheesecake. The Christmas task list was finally complete.

A Few Comestibles

You can't find octopus jerky (right) in California

One of the first shopping expeditions on this Hawaiian trip was to Costco. 90% of the items in Honolulu consisted of goods that were available in California, but I was interested in food, clothing, and gifts that you couldn't get back in my adopted home.

The refrigerated section had lau-lau, poi, kalua pig, Portuguese sausages, and lomi salmon. I picked up a few comestibles to be consumed later on the vacation.

The Hawaii Costco also has seafood jerky that Mainland warehouses don't carry. Fish jerky isn't cheap--between $15 to $20--but I enjoy these much more than beef and pork products that are too heavy and oily for my taste. I threw a couple of packages in the suitcase to bring back.

BTW, I've been shopping at the warehouse stores to buy local products since 2006.

Valentine's Day Dinner

At $12.99 per pound the rib steak was 50% higher than pre-pandemic, but:

1) We hadn't splurged on this cut since last fall;

2) Home-cooked steak would still be cheaper than dining out, which is what we usually do on Valentine's Day.

COVID-19 and inflation seem to have caused long-lasting changes in the shopping and dining habits of Americans:

Americans continue to stockpile food and household goods.

Many are spending more time at home and remain uncertain about product availability. Some have moved from tight-spaced apartments in cities to more spacious suburban homes, and inflation is spurring a search for savings by buying in bulk.

After more than 20 years of steady but slow sales growth, sales at bulk retailers Costco Wholesale Corp., Walmart Inc.’s Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. rose 26.6% in dollars and 18% in volume during the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with the same quarter of 2019

Though restaurants have reopened, Americans are eating billions (!) of meals more at home than before the pandemic:

At the height of the pandemic, Americans ate 88% of their meals at home, according to retail research firm NPD Group, up from 83% pre-pandemic. Meals eaten at home have since leveled off to about 85%, but the 2 percentage point increase from 2019 levels is equivalent to an estimated 2.9 billion meals and snacks per quarter, NPD says.

BTW, after two years of working on our skills in the kitchen, the steak turned out a perfect medium rare.

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May

Foster City Lagoon on Tuesday, January 11th

It's a goal, not a resolution

A modest exercise goal since the beginning of the year has been to take at least 10,000 steps each day. That's a little over four miles, which means a minimum outdoors walk of three miles plus a pedestrian (!) activity like shopping.

Hitting the target this week has been a strain because breathing has been difficult. In decades past I enjoyed the sweet smell of operating fireplaces, but late-onset asthma has quelled that pleasure. Before setting out I pack the emergency inhaler and check the air quality: [bold added]

Air quality across the Bay Area was “moderate” to “unhealthy” Thursday morning due to a high-pressure system trapping pollutants in the air over the region, meteorologists said.

The high-pressure system that brought sunny skies and seasonable weather to the Bay Area this week has also made the air stagnant, meteorologists said. A temperature inversion is to blame.

That’s when the air closest to the ground is cooler than higher elevations, allowing fine particles from car exhaust and fireplaces to stay trapped at the ground level.

Aaron Richardson, a spokesperson with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, said poorer air quality levels at this time of year weren’t unusual.

He said people using their fireplaces is the biggest source of fine particle pollution.

The Bay Area received a lot of rain in the past two months that helped clear the air, he said.

“But now with this high-pressure system, pollution is building up a little bit,” Richardson said.

San Mateo County banned the addition of wood-burning fireplaces in 2015. The silver lining is that our two grandfathered fireplaces, which we haven't used this century due to allergies, could be a desirable feature to a prospective buyer.

Well, enough musing about future real estate values. Time to put on the walking shoes to try to extend that future a little longer.

Just in Time

The recent upward blip in interest rates resulted in Citibank adding 8 cents, more than double the usual, to my largely inactive savings account.

It was just in time for Christmas shopping.

As the saying goes, I'll try not to spend it all in one place.

Something Different

At the Don Quijote store the eye-catching Candy (eyecandy?) banner suggested, "Sometimes it's good to try something different." None of the candies was familiar to me.

The Nobel's Times. looked intriguing, and I bought one.

Waikiki on Saturday Night

Waikiki on Saturday night was crowded with tourists, musicians, and shoppers.

A group of anti-vaccination-mandate protestors marched up and down Kalakaua Avenue. Their demographic diversity--old, young, black, brown, white, mixed, male, female, indeterminate--would have warmed the heart of any diversity and inclusion officer, but only if the group had advocated one of the causes on the approved list.

I stopped at a couple of shops and made a small contribution to the Hawaiian economy. As they say in Vegas, someone's gotta pay for the lights.