Why Serious Costco Shoppers Know It's Better To Buy Beef At The Business Center

The wide world of Costco can be enigmatic as it is, full of myths and mysteries about the big box stores. Secrets about Costco's free samples abound, and even ordering its party platters can be puzzling. Bring Costco's curious Business Centers into the equation, and the labyrinth unfurls even further. It sounds, at first, like the Business Centers would fall under a separate membership for, well, businesses. But actually, all Costco members are welcome to shop at the Business Centers, too. And those most in the know of the warehouse's ways are aware that the Business Center's beef is best.

There is a whole cottage industry of social media carnivores extolling the virtues of Costco Business Center beef versus that at the more ordinary locations. One of the biggest benefits, as one might imagine, is the ability to buy oversized slabs of meat and portion them down into what amounts to some pretty affordable serving sizes. 'But wait,' you may say, 'isn't that the whole point of regular Costco, too?' Yes, but some find that the prices are better at the Business Centers. And many Costco Business Centers also allocate more space to groceries than the full-stop Costcos, meaning you're more likely to find a wide variety of, say, striploin and bone-in roast options versus a bunch of electronics and kitchen appliances.

Our earliest ancestors spent their wild and precious lives trying to spear wooly mammoths or whatever so that humanity could not only survive, but thrive. And the massive walk-in refrigerators that you might find in Costco Business centers are probably more aligned with your great-great-great cave grandparents' idea of thriving than, say, your smartphone. These frigid meat caverns make regular Costco's protein departments seem downright puny in comparison. And, your area's selection may vary, but they're packed with things like ground beef by the yard, behemoth briskets, and rib racks that, speaking of old timers, would have tipped the Flintstone family's car.

Unless you're planning to serve mostly meat mountains at an upcoming event, you're probably going to need to break it all down, pack, and store this abundance yourself once you get it home. A big, sharp knife and plenty of resealable plastic bags are really all you need to slice a whole tenderloin down to steaks and so on. If you're going to make Costco Business Center's many meats a permanent part of your routine, you might want to invest in a vacuum sealer and a kitchen scale for more precision, too. You can pick up both back at — you guessed it! — regular Costco.