Winco

Every time I go to Winco I promise myself I will not grocery shop anywhere else. The savings are tremendous. I especially like their huge selection of bulk foods.

Everytime I walk in, I get the feeling of a warehouse. Cheap prices. Service are friendly (not all Winco but this one is not bad). If you bring your own bags, they give you 6 cents per bag back instead of they charging you. I like that concept.
Come here quite often, and have always found pretty good deals. They do price match.
Sometimes I do find it a hit and miss. Quality might not be that great on some products. But you are getting what you paid for.
This place doesn’t have a pharmacy.

First: Winco does not accept credit. Debit, Cash (Canadian too), and local checks. No floral department, no pharmacy, no fluff. Winco is almost like a price club, but normal grocery sizes, no membership or «card» needed, and the selection is awesome. They save you money wherever possible.
.05c for a paper bag, or bring your own– let them know you brought some and you get .07c refunded per bag (up to 6). It is bag your own.
Very busy, but that truly depends on what time you go. If you show up at 5:30pm on a weeknight, you are of course going to be fighting the after work crowd.
Yes, lots of Canadians. We live in Bellingham, friends. It’s just the way it is!

When you can sell Haggen Danz for $ 3.99, a full $ 3 cheaper than back home, that’s worth the 5^th star. Ok, maybe not, but W is open 24 hrs, so there we go ;)
My 1^st time there; it’s easy to miss their sign in this maze of neon signs at this intersection of Bellis Fair Parkway, as W is actually a few blocks in. Now I won’t go to Walmart for junk food anymore lol.
And look at pic of the ice cream bars too; I just bought the same box at Shoppers Drug Mart the night before, for $ 4.99 — considered on sale because the regular price is $ 7.49!
Being the first time here, spending an hour here just flew by. It’s a huge, huge place, bigger than a Costco, probably Walmart/​Fred Meyer size.
Interior, though, does feel like a warehouse, as they’re really keeping costs to a minimal to pass along the savings to us. Probably why no credit cards are accepted.
If there’s any negative, the bakery section isn’t no Safeway. But if you must, it’s in the right hand side, in the corner, but if you go deep in the back, that’s where the ice cream section is ;) Ben’s & Jerry also very good prices.
IMHO, they seem to focus more on food, didn’t recall any clothing aka Walmarts, or electronic/​home stuff aka Costco.

Winco, being owned by its workers,. already has an ethical advantage to me over Walmart (where I’d never shop anyways) and Costco,. but I’m also cheap so if that were all it had going for it,. I couldn’t give it 4 stars.
I’ve done quite a bit of price comparison in Bellingham between the different grocery stores and Winco probably is the best «overall» solution, but you have to be selective.
Where Costco forces one to buy in bulk to get value,. Winco offers both large and normal sized quantities, and far more brands. For food, it is comprehensive, so you could just stop here and do all your shopping. Unlike Costco,. no membership, no huge lines, and less busy.
For the most part the food prices (milk, meat, etc.) are similar to Costco or other value based places, but off the top of my head, the specific items I simply cannot get better and cheaper than Winco (plus I like the Winco brands better):
–anything Mexican, especially the corn tortillas which in Vancouver,…800% more expensive! (actually not exaggerated)
–Yogurt: better brands, better prices, more ability to select variety and not bulk 20 packs
–shredded cheese for pizza: slightly cheaper here
–pizza dough: surprisingly hard to find good dough elsewhere (the other good place for cheap dough is Trader Joe’s)
Lastly, lets not forget that many of us are picking up groceries on the way back from a road trip and home to Canada. Winco is ²⁴⁄₇ which makes it very convenient!

I was impressed when the store first opened but I’m no longer a fan. The prices have gone up, the produce dept. is sad and in desperate need of stocking more times than not. The store is clean and employees stocking are friendly and helpful but all is lost when you reach the check stands. There are NEVER enough cashiers to handle the long waiting lines which forces one to «self check» which is also crowded and MOST times the U-​Scan is malfunctioning so the attendant has to be called over repeatedly to fix the problem. It is frustrating. Bottom line… I’d rather shop at Fred Meyer or Trader Joe’s where there is plenty of «friendly» staff to check you out quickly AND bag your groceries AND they take credit cards.
Sorry Winco… you have much to improve on.

I am becoming very disappointed with this location.
At first, I thought it was the cat’s meow. It is open 24 hours, it’s never crazy busy like Walmart up a few blocks, prices were always really good. They were fully stocked.
Now, we find the prices have risen at Wincos to the point of them no longer being competitive with other merchants in the area like Walmart, Target, and Fred Meyer, just to name a few. On occasion, you might find a few things cheaper but that’s becoming rare. Not only that, the other places mentioned take credit cards. Winco is cash only which makes them not such a good deal.
Finally, one day we came in and wanted a quick bite to eat. We headed over to the deli where they have hot premade soups. We had to ask for the spoons, but they didn’t have any salt, pepper, and definitely not crackers. I asked the employee working and he said that location never supplies salt, pepper and crackers. Ok, I can maybe see them not providing crackers, but salt or pepper?
If it wasn’t for the consistently empty shelved Walmart, we would not be shopping at WInco Bellingham.

I am a fan of our Winco at home, and this branch is good as well.
As the other reviews mentioned, they have terrific prices. Nice selection of bulk items. They are very clean, organized, and stocked. They also give 6 cents discount for every «environmentally friendly» bag that you bring in and use.
The customer service was excellent. The girl who was at the self-​checkout area was wonderful. She had to help us out a couple of times and was very friendly as well.
Wish we had self-​checkout available at my hometown Winco. Just was not too pleased with the parking lot. It was kind of crazy that day were there. People and cars were all over the place. Took awhile to get out of there.

Great prices! They have a pretty good bulk selection as well. The only down sides are that you can’t use credit and I have found that the produce doesn’t last very long.

Winco is officially my go-​to place for grocery shopping — I was so happy when they finally opened in Bellingham! You simply can’t beat their prices and selection, not to mention a bulk section that is second to none. They’ve done a nice job with the Bellingham store, incorporating more health foods and organic foods than I’ve seen at their other locations. Their deli, meat, and seafood areas are well-​stocked and I’ve never had a problem with quality. They also have a great selection of Hispanic and Asian groceries. The staff is friendly and super helpful, and the store is very clean. If they could just improve the quality of some of their produce (especially the lettuce, which almost always feels «old») I’d be giving 5 stars.

i live in canada and used to shop at costco and walmart now i just use this place love the bulk food the meat and cheese is cheaper at costco for better stuff but for those who dont have a costco card its great and its open 24 7 which costco isnt love this place its now first stop when i cross the border

Great store, variety and amazing prices. So glad to have one in Bellingham now! Open 24 hrs so can hit it up before Costco opens. Bulk food section is great. It’s much more pleasant experience than the Walmart in Bellingham, which is in need of much love from its head office!

I had only visited a Winco Foods once in the past and was very unimpressed.
But when, before the new Winco in Bellingham opened last month, a number of articles in the press talked about Winco and the way they do business and are poised to give WalMart some competition, I was intrigued! A company with low low prices and they pay their people a living wage, nice!
Our Winco moved into an old hardware/​sporting goods store that seems to have been vacant more than it’s been occupied. So I was happy to see an existing building put to good use. The store is huge and the parking lot has been full every time I have been there. The store looks great from the outside, clean and uncluttered.
You enter to the Wall of Values with some of their biggest price savers. There are some crazy good deals here! Produce is next, nothing special here apart from the blantant lack of staging and arrangement of displays. Produce boxes are set out and open for the picking. Nothing fancy and perhaps even crude in this day of careful retailing and colorful farmers’ market displays.
900 bins of bulk foods is next, lots of deals here. Deli and fresh seafood are next, I didn’t get more than a roasted chicken here. Prepared meats, dairy, frozen and bakery complete the outside of the store.
Pros: huge selection and lots of very low prices. Lower than anyplace else I shop, significantly so in most cases.
Cons: Not all products are here… nor are they always easy to find. Like bacon, there was some on the wall of values, more by the fresh meats, and the expected full selection in yet another place. Not the best, and always left me wondering if I couldn’t find what I wanted if it wasn’t just someplace else (that I couldn’t find)! Crowds, the store is still super busy, I am not a big fan of dealing with crowds. The people. There could be a new web site call The People of Winco if my visits are any indication. Only cash, checks, and debit cards are accepted.
If saving money is #1 for you, then you must go to Winco.