[AtlasBarfed]

I wouldn't disagree with your experience complaint, but Costco exists precisely because it doesn't care about the "shopping experience". If you go to Costco, you forgo the right to complain about the "shopping experience" because you are explicitly choosing something with a bad one in exchange for very cheap goods.

Walmart and Target: slightly better experience, slightly more expensive.

Supermarkets and Malls: better experience, more expensive

So I guess, you aren't the only person in America, but people make the choice to accept the burden for the price savings.

[CrazyStat]

Odd, I've always considered Costco to have one of the best shopping experiences. Stuff on the shelves, I go find what I want and check out.

I generally hate supermarkets and malls. Annoying music, questionable `sales` pushed on aisle end caps and elsewhere, etc. Not the experience I'm after.

[HomeDeLaPot]

My Walmart is awful compared to the Costco. Messy shelves and aisles, carts that clank and clatter. Costco is neater, the employees are friendlier and more helpful... like the two stores have two different cultures. And I appreciate that Costco usually has just one good option—it simplifies things, and it's great when they happen to stock something I've been thinking about buying. I just bought a folding wagon that's bigger and beefier than the Amazon ones for the same price. My experience has been that Costco provides a better shopping experience than Walmart, in the same league as Target, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's.

[sizzle]

Walmart parking lots are equally busy and hard to navigate in my experience

[loonster]

Depends on the Costco. The one near me put the main entrance to the parking lot next to the store entrance.

The Walmart near me has the main entrance to the parking lot at the opposite end of the store. There is also a long protected cart path going down the parking lot.

The Costco on the other side of town is almost as good as the Walmart.