Costco - San Francisco

 

I noticed some key differences while at the San Francisco Costco compared to the Costco's I'm so familiar with in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago.

For a Thursday at 12 Noon, the Costco was already very crowded.  Lots of cars and people!  The cars have a parking garage rather than an outdoor lot so that they can fit more cars in the same footprint due to the numerous levels.  Land is a premium in San Francisco!

The shopping carts are gathered by a person running a tractor instead of pushed by hand and foot!  He gathers the carts and pushes them towards the entrance area with the tractor.  It's a sight to see.

The inside of the Costco is pretty much the same as any other Costco in Chicago but perhaps a bit bigger.  I noticed that they had four ovens of rotisserie cookers for the $4.99 chickens.  They must sell a lot of chickens!  Most Costcos I've seen in Chicago only have two ovens.

While the prices of the food court food is the same, the food court is run differently.  Orders are done on kiosks.  You tap the touchscreen to place your order, pay with a credit card and take the receipt to the order pick up window.  This is a much faster system than we have back in the Chicago area!  I wish they incorporate this where I live in the future!  With so many people ordering food, the seating area however is not as good as it is in Chicago.  There are row benches and long tables where everyone sits together rather than small tables where only 4 people sit together in Chicago.  I suppose this is the most efficient way to get more people seating, but it's a bit strange eating food with strangers next to you.

One aspect I really like though in San Francisco is hearing all the Chinese people speaking mainly in the Toisan or Cantonese Chinese dialect.  I understand Toisan fully, but not as much Cantonese.  They are similar however.  Mandarin is totally different sounding and I've yet to hear this in San Francisco.   Hearing everyone speaking Toisan just proves that many of the Chinese who came over to the US so many years ago were from the small villages that my own ancestors came from.  Always fun to hear the older women talking in Toisan!