Costco, and furnishing a new Florida home

[HadEnuff]

Well, I've been a busy little beaver, blowing that dough, since I last posted.

We bought a place in The Villages...and furniture is hard to come by.

For you Costco veterans out there, what can you tell me about the deals at Costco for TVs (say about 60 inches) and king size mattresses.

I'm a poor sleeper, and am thinking about a high end mattress. Saatva and Sleep Essentials are in the running.

I'm not a member of Costco. In my northern home, the nearest one is about 90 minutes, and from The Villages the nearest one is about an hour. The ongoing joke around The Villages is "they are going to build a Costco here...." hasn't happened yet, but will someday I'm sure.

Anyway, I'm looking for some feedback about TVs and mattresses.

Thanks

 

[Philliefan33]

Congratulations on your new home!

Costco is our first stop if shopping for a tv. (For us it’s close by). We’ve probably bought 3 or 4 TVs from Costco in the last twenty years. We tend not to put a lot of effort into shopping for televisions. If we need/want one and we find what we like at Costco for a price we are willing to pay, we buy it.

Two benefits of buying electronics at Costco: the return policy is better than most other places, and the concierge technical service. If needed you can call a special phone number to have a Costco technical expert help with setup or troubleshooting. If the Costco expert can’t fix it, she has a direct number to the manufacturer’s technical help. I’ve had to use the concierge service a couple of times (not for televisions) and it was more helpful than calling the manufacturer first.

I think if you purchase a television from Costco.com you can get free delivery. That would be a nice perk given the distance from your new home.

 

[pb4uski]

We have bought tv's from Costco and been very happy. Ditto that their return policy is heads above others.

We also bought a king size mattress from Costco. It came compressed in a box a bit smaller than a clothes washer... fairly heavy be managable... it helped that the box had wheels built into one edge on the bottom so it could be wheeled around easily. We got it home and opened it up and poof... it expands into a king size mattress. Only problem was that after sleeping on it for a few nights DW didn't like it (too firm) so she wanted to return it.

Obviously you can't fit it back in the box. We couldn't maneuver it down the stairway so we pitched it over the railing onto plastic sheeting that we had below. Then ended up putting it on top of the Outback and tying it to the luggage rack to return it. Looked like a scene out of the Beverley Hillbillies.

 

[bloom2708]

I would not drive 90 minutes just for a Costco.

Do you have a Best Buy closer? Costco does have a nice warranty extension, but their prices are not the best. Also note their models may be slightly different.

Best Buy will match any online deals you find.

It might be worth it to buy in FL near your house there so you have less issues. Big TVs should not be laid down on their side if possible.

As for a mattress, I would always choose a mattress with a base with coils that is hand built to your comfort specs. Most areas have mattress factories where you can build to your comfort and weight and get a chance to feel them out. I would also purchase the mattress close to your FL home.

 

[ncbill]

Well, I've been a busy little beaver, blowing that dough, since I last posted.

We bought a place in The Villages...and furniture is hard to come by.

For you Costco veterans out there, what can you tell me about the deals at Costco for TVs (say about 60 inches) and king size mattresses.

I'm a poor sleeper, and am thinking about a high end mattress. Saatva and Sleep Essentials are in the running.

I'm not a member of Costco. In my northern home, the nearest one is about 90 minutes, and from The Villages the nearest one is about an hour. The ongoing joke around The Villages is "they are going to build a Costco here...." hasn't happened yet, but will someday I'm sure.

Anyway, I'm looking for some feedback about TVs and mattresses.

Thanks

Just ask the Villages management for the contact information of the next of kin of any neighbors who recently died...

 

[Aerides]

Of course you can do a lot of costco shopping online, particular for electronics. And furniture - they have only a tiny sampling in stores on display, you have to order it anyway. I've always found their furniture values to be questionable, you really need to buy sets and have a lot of space for those to make it a deal. Besides, I like to see furniture in person first.

 

[Chuckanut]

Then ended up putting it on top of the Outback and tying it to the luggage rack to return it. Looked like a scene out of the Beverley Hillbillies.

I am imagining Jethro Bodine doing some 'ciphering' while calculating the internal rate of return of U-Haul Furniture Pad investments purchased using the money saved by shopping at Costco.

 

[calmloki]

We like furniture with some character and patina. That means older stuff that might have been built with a bit more hand crafting than the Costco/Furniture Megalowmart offerings. Varnishes and oils rather than incredibly durable modern cross-polymerized lawr-de-dar coatings sprayed by Zippy the painting robot.
We shop yard sales.
Mattresses by Costco though - also had to return one to them, which they picked up. I like Costco.

 

[Ready]

Costco has some great deals on mattresses sold with adjustable bases. They always have at least one model on sale which makes the price far better than you can find elsewhere. And their no hassle return policy makes it easy to buy from them. Here is one example:

https://www.costco.com/sleep-scienc...s-with-adjustable-base.product.100469345.html

 

[mpeirce]

There's also an Ikea about an hour away in Orlando. Just another option.

 

[Brat]

Our new tv is a Samsung we purchased from Costco. Love it.

I haven't purchased furniture in years but here are my thoughts. Shop resale for items like tables w chairs. Upholstered furniture... buy new. Costco furniture is too large IMHO. In Portland metro there are a number of resale shops, even an auction house that is a PNW equivalent of Sotheby's. See if there is one nearby you that attracts the things that interest you.

Look for estate sales.

 

[Amethyst]

Doesn't the community have bulletin boards - online, one hopes - where residents (and heirs) can post furniture for sale?

Just ask the Villages management for the contact information of the next of kin of any neighbors who recently died...

 

[Bamaman]

Unless you're going a very high tech television, many tv's are somewhat generic. And Walmart is the king of sales--at very low prices. Even 60" tv's are not very heavy today--manageable. And I'm one of the bigger is better customers.

As far as beds go, I've bought 3 memory foam mattresses online from BedInABox.com in East Tennessee. One has an electric Leggett & Platt adjustable base that operates like a "hospital bed." It's come in handy more than once. Their beds are made of superior BASF foam, and the level of service is great. With adjustable beds, you have to have mattresses that are meant to go on them.

As far as furniture goes, there's no better place than Facebook Marketplace. Boomers are downsizing (and passing on), and their millennial children have no regard for family furniture of high quality. Take your time and look everyday, and really fine furniture comes up at very cheap prices.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I just bought a nice mattress from Costco online, even though we have a store about three or four miles away, to replace the original mattress and boxspring on a very old twin bed. After delivery, we found the stacked mattress and boxspring were way too high, so we called Costco and a week later they picked up the boxspring. We could have returned both for any reason. We also bought our deck furniture from Costco online. Free delivery and returns.

 

[Freedom56]

When we bought our condo in Florida, we went on a shopping spree at Costco (for kitchen items), Rooms to Go, and City Furniture over a three week period. As far as TVs go, we bought our first one at Brandsmart and Costco for the second and third ones. Because of the cable system at our condo that is included with our monthly dues, there were only a few TVs that were compatible with the digital broadcast signal without using an external box. We ended up buying a 4K 65" TCL Roku TV which did the job for us. It was inexpensive and we could stream all subscription channels without an external Roku device. It also works seamlessly between cable TV and streaming with one single remote. As far as mattresses go, I would try before buying which rules out Costco.

 

[Arizona1]

We bought a mattress at Costco about 5 years ago and after about 9 months the DW said she just couldn’t get comfortable sleeping on it. We took it back and got a full refund. The same time we bought another one and have loved it for about 4 years now. I don’t remember what brand name the first one was but this one is a sterns and foster.
Too bad your so far from Costco. Maybe there is a sams club close.

 

[Ready]

It doesn’t matter how far you are from a Costco because they don’t sell furniture or mattresses in the warehouse anyway. It’s all ordered online and delivered to your home.