Costco was cool even before the Great Recession. Targeting business owners and other affluent customers, the members-only warehouse shop avoided the Walmart stigma and sold a mix of high-end electronics, basic foodstuffs, and household necessities, plus an eclectic mix of humidifiers, bestselling books, and vintage Champagne. Now that frugal is fashionable, however, Costco seems like the perfect store for the times. The blogosphere, no surprise, offers up sites for and. CEO and founder Jim Sinegal is renowned for the he awards himself and the relatively high pay he shells out for employees. Even A-listers are getting in on the action:,, and have been spotted loading up their cars with 30-packs of toilet paper and flat-screen TVs. OK, “Costco Chateauneuf-du-Pape” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

But who cares — it goes down the throat quite nicely. The 800-year-old appellation, quaffed by popes and praised by Nostradamus, is now available under the “Kirkland” house brand at your local warehouse club.

And it’s good stuff, according to experts. The 2008 Chateauneuf-du-Pape sells for $20, but would be $30 anywhere else, says Andrew Cullen, who rates wines sold at the store at the. “Before you see a bottle at Costco, it has been screened by Costco wine buyers, which cuts out 75 percent of the less desirable wines,” says Cullen, who has no relationship with the company he writes about. Executive wine editor of Food & Wine magazine, says the fact that Costco sells such huge quantities of wine — it’s the largest retailer of fine wine in the country — means it can get good deals and better access to top vintages. In addition to selling wine under its own brand, Costco offers a at competitive prices. A recent favorite of Isle’s is the Lot 200 Cameron Hughes 2008 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which sells for $28 a bottle at Costco. “I just tasted this two days ago, and it was pretty damn good cabernet for the price,” Isle says.

One-stop shopping at low prices has endeared Costco Optical to tens of thousands of vision-challenged shoppers. Hamlet usb v.90 56k fax/modem driver. For $49, a licensed optometrist will perform a vision and eye health exam in an in-store exam room. A week later, you can pick up your specs. In, 30,000 lens-wearers chose Costco as their favorite optical retailer over vision store chains, independent optical shops, and private doctors’ offices. Costco Optical earned the highest scores for overall satisfaction as well as for price, with its $157 median price for glasses. Compare that price with an average of $211 at independent optical shops, $212 at private eye doctors’ offices, and $228 at Pearle Vision.

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Costco also stood out for lack of problems, such as loose lenses, distorted vision, or damaged frames in the first weeks after purchase. Costco’s prices on notebook PCs are already a good deal, but there’s a further benefit to buying one at Costco: A two-year warranty policy (most manufacturers provide just one year), a 90-day return policy, and Costco Concierge Services, which is free to members and gives buyers access to technicians for set-up questions, product use, and trouble-shooting.

Model numbers and configurations are often unique to Costco, but a perusal of specs will let you compare it to similar models sold elsewhere. Among current laptops on sale at Costco, PC Magazine Online gives high marks to the 14-inch ($800 list price at Costco vs. $849 elsewhere for a comparable model). More on MoneyWatch: • • • • • • • 5. Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Costco’s Kirkland Signature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil may be the best-kept secret in the store. At $9.99 for 1.5 liters, it is roughly half the cost of the well-known Bertolli brand, and yet, according to at least one independent study, it’s much better.