Costco

Costco is superb.

Costco is a warehouse store where you can buy more-or-less everything - from toothpaste to apples - provided it's in bulk. You can even get electrical appliances at bargain basement prices. The containers may be huge (the jars in the picture contain fist-sized gherkins) and there are generally no more than one or two brands of each product, but the quality is just the same and the prices are far lower then in normal supermarkets. And since everyone has plenty of storage space in their double garages and wardrobe-sized fridges, there's no problem buying in large quantities - provided your car boot is big enough, which - this being America - goes without saying.

To give you an idea of the contents of the average Costco shopping trolley, here are just some of the things I got at my most recent visit:

- One triple pack of 1.25kg bottles of ketchup

- Two twin packs of 3-litre bottles of apple juice and grape juice

- Two 36-can packs of Coke

- Six 1.5-litre bottles of rosé

- One 2.8-litre bottle of liquid soap

- One 36-roll pack of loo paper

- One 4.5kg bag of granulated sugar

- One 1.75-litre bottle of gin

- One 12-pack of tins of sweetcorn

- One 10-pack of tins of tomato purée.

Costco is proof positive that big sometimes really is beautiful. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to tuck into my 1.25kg jar of pretzels.