Shopping Bags at Target

[AquaDuck1]

Recently we stayed at Aulani and we made a trip to Target. When we went to check out the sales associate did not bag any of the items we were purchasing. She told us we could take our "buggy" out to the car or we could purchase a reusable bag. We ended up buying 2 bags because there was no way we could carry all of the items we bought into the resort without them. I wish I had known about the bag issue and I would have brought one from home. Hope this helps some one planning a trip to Aulani and Target.

 

[jtba]

the "buggy" reference made me laugh. when we were at the safeway nearby, the cashier asked us to move the "wagon" closer, and i was like, "huh???" took her a couple tries for me to understand she was referring to our shopping cart. then she told us that the european visitors refer to them as "trolleys", and we all laughed.

 

[BobNed]

Recently we stayed at Aulani and we made a trip to Target. When we went to check out the sales associate did not bag any of the items we were purchasing. She told us we could take our "buggy" out to the car or we could purchase a reusable bag. We ended up buying 2 bags because there was no way we could carry all of the items we bought into the resort without them. I wish I had known about the bag issue and I would have brought one from home. Hope this helps some one planning a trip to Aulani and Target.

This is not a Target thing. It's the law. The city and county of Honolulu passed a law prohibiting plastic bags in most retail stores.

http://www.opala.org/solid_waste/archive/plastic_bag_ban.html

Summary:

Effective July 1, 2015, businesses shall be prohibited from providing plastic checkout bags and non-recyclable paper bags to their customers at the point of sale for the purpose of transporting groceries or other merchandise. Nothing in the ordinance shall preclude a business from making available to customers, with or without charge, at the point of sale: 1) reusable bags, compostable plastic bags, or recyclable paper bags for the purpose of transporting groceries or other merchandise; or 2) non-recyclable paper bags to protect or transport prepared foods, beverages, or bakery goods.

Target is too cheap to provide any free alternative like paper bags.

 

[Michele51274]

You won't find plastic bags at Aulani either. Island rule we had to buy several reusable bags when we made a trip to Target. They came in handy during our stay though!

 

[twodogs]

Safeway did provide paper bags when we were there 3 weeks ago. Target: we carried it out by hand since it was just a few things... Another note on Target which I know was mentioned somewhere: this is not a Super Target, so their food selection is not great. I have both a Super and a regular Target where I live, so I understood the difference. We mainly shopped at Safeway for the selection. Didn't make it to Costco due to not wanting to stop one more place. Maybe next time, as Safeway was very expensive. We were able to use the loyalty card from one of our home grocery stores (we don't have Safeway here in Dallas anymore) to get a little savings.

 

[christianweecare]

I have an off topic question about Costco. Do you have to be a member to shop at Costco? We don't have a Costco in our area. Just Sam's. It may not be cost effective for us if you have to have a membership to Costco.

 

[twodogs]

Yes you have to buy a one year membership to shop at Costco. I think it operates just like Sam's in that regard. I will say that the quantities are large at Costco, so for us, even though we had 9 days, 6 people and we have a Costco membership, I did not go there to shop. I don't think we could have made it through a lot of the stuff they sell there due to quantity. Maybe some of the prepared items would have worked, but we just didn't need that much food! Safeway was definitely more expensive than my home stores for most things, but I expected that. Target was not a full grocery store, so a lot that I would have wanted was not there. But Target's prices seemed better than Safeway's , on the items that they did have.

 

[Soccerluvinmama]

I LOVE the Costco there!!! You can find so many items that are specific to the islands and can't be found anywhere else, and it's the best place to buy your chocolate covered macadamia nuts to take come Also, they have an outstanding alcohol section. Speaking of re-usable bags, if you do go to Costco, head down by where they have the Ziplock plastic containers and on the bottom shelf on the left towards the end (opposite end of the refrigerated section) Costco has some wonderful bags! You get 4 for something like $7. Two of them are super big and the other is large. GREAT for taking to the beach! And, they have a unique Hawaiian theme on each. Love them!

 

[nkereina]

For those who shopped at Safeway, how was the bakery section there? We're thinking about grabbing fresh rolls, muffins, donuts, etc. from the bakery since we just need a couple days of breakfast items.

Also, did anyone sign up for the Safeway club card in advance? It's their savings card. I signed up through their web site but didn't receive a number or card. Do you just give them your phone number or something?

 

[twodogs]

Yes you just give your phone number, and they can look it up. The bakery was decent. They had rolls, muffins, baguettes, etc (don't know if they had donuts), however, the muffin selection was very picked over when we went. Maybe they just had a run on muffins that day. Target only had tiny mini muffins that looked pretty lame. My parents ended up at one of the military commissaries since my dad is retired military, and they picked up muffins there. I was going to go to Costco just for muffins, but I was having too much fun relaxing to do it!!

 

[crystal1313]

I have an off topic question about Costco. Do you have to be a member to shop at Costco? We don't have a Costco in our area. Just Sam's. It may not be cost effective for us if you have to have a membership to Costco.

I wondered this exact thing, because we also only have a Sam's Club membership. We received at Xmas, a Costco gift card. I called the Costco in Kapolei to see if I could shop with the giftcard, even though I don't have a membership. They said: YES! Basically said it was a one time deal and that if we went over the gift card amount, we would have to pay in cash or with a debit card. I, like @twodogs am concerned about buying some things at Costco, because I don't think we will eat all of it, even though we are a group of 6 as well. I think we will at least check it out and most likely buy some items to make cocktails and some beer. Probably some breakfast type pastries and maybe a prepared meal or two. We don't want to buy too much food, since we want to try out Ama Ama and Roy's and Monkepod as well. So you might want to get a Costco gift card and shop there without a membership. I leave in a week and a half and will report back if we had any issues. =)

 

[nkereina]

I wondered this exact thing, because we also only have a Sam's Club membership. We received at Xmas, a Costco gift card. I called the Costco in Kapolei to see if I could shop with the giftcard, even though I don't have a membership. They said: YES! Basically said it was a one time deal and that if we went over the gift card amount, we would have to pay in cash or with a debit card. I, like @twodogs am concerned about buying some things at Costco, because I don't think we will eat all of it, even though we are a group of 6 as well. I think we will at least check it out and most likely buy some items to make cocktails and some beer. Probably some breakfast type pastries and maybe a prepared meal or two. We don't want to buy too much food, since we want to try out Ama Ama and Roy's and Monkepod as well. So you might want to get a Costco gift card and shop there without a membership. I leave in a week and a half and will report back if we had any issues. =)

Good to know! There's just two of us in our house and when we shop at a wholesale club like this, we find bottled water to be a great deal - it's usually a 35 pack (or something greater than 24) for only a $1 more than a normal case. The baked good are always good as well, with normal size quantities most times. But otherwise, we'll be going to Safeway due to the quantities for us as well.

 

[micheleq]

I LOVE the Costco there!!! You can find so many items that are specific to the islands and can't be found anywhere else, and it's the best place to buy your chocolate covered macadamia nuts to take come Also, they have an outstanding alcohol section. Speaking of re-usable bags, if you do go to Costco, head down by where they have the Ziplock plastic containers and on the bottom shelf on the left towards the end (opposite end of the refrigerated section) Costco has some wonderful bags! You get 4 for something like $7. Two of them are super big and the other is large. GREAT for taking to the beach! And, they have a unique Hawaiian theme on each. Love them!

Thanks for this tip! I'm a total geek and kinda looking forward to buying a few shopping bags in Hawaii to cycle out some of mine here at home.

 

[sgrap]

I have an off topic question about Costco. Do you have to be a member to shop at Costco? We don't have a Costco in our area. Just Sam's. It may not be cost effective for us if you have to have a membership to Costco.

You can buy gift cards and shop with them without being members. Might have to get a member to buy you the gift cards, though. Not sure.

 

[sgrap]

Yes you have to buy a one year membership to shop at Costco. I think it operates just like Sam's in that regard. I will say that the quantities are large at Costco, so for us, even though we had 9 days, 6 people and we have a Costco membership, I did not go there to shop. I don't think we could have made it through a lot of the stuff they sell there due to quantity. Maybe some of the prepared items would have worked, but we just didn't need that much food! Safeway was definitely more expensive than my home stores for most things, but I expected that. Target was not a full grocery store, so a lot that I would have wanted was not there. But Target's prices seemed better than Safeway's , on the items that they did have.

We had 6 people for 7 nights at Aulani and made 2 or 3 trips to Costco! Lunch meat, sliced cheese, take n bake pizza, take n bake ravioli lasagne, frozen hamburger patties, hamburger buns, salad kids, eggs, chips. We used almost all of that and had to get more lunch meat and cheese.

 

[Looptyloo]

The bags can be a little frustrating, I always seem to forget to bring my bags in with me

Costco seems to have more smaller (or at least regular) sizes here, since so many people here have limited space. Like just 1 gallon of milk, an 18ct eggs, etc. I would totally make a trip to Costco, plus their food court is the cheapest thing you'll find on the island

Have someone buy you a gift card or technically you could get a membership and then cancel it and get your money back on the membership, although I would probably feel a little guilty...

 

[bettina1124]

How is the walmart there? Do they have good selections?

 

[happymommy]

Even with just 4 of us we shop Costco a lot in Kapolei. It's amazing how much food we go through in a couple weeks, but we do almost all dinners in the condo!

If you're going to bring coffees or chocolate mac nuts back to friends, definitely it's the cheapest way also.

 

[heybets30]

I LOVE the Costco there!!! You can find so many items that are specific to the islands and can't be found anywhere else, and it's the best place to buy your chocolate covered macadamia nuts to take come Also, they have an outstanding alcohol section. Speaking of re-usable bags, if you do go to Costco, head down by where they have the Ziplock plastic containers and on the bottom shelf on the left towards the end (opposite end of the refrigerated section) Costco has some wonderful bags! You get 4 for something like $7. Two of them are super big and the other is large. GREAT for taking to the beach! And, they have a unique Hawaiian theme on each. Love them!

Funny - the ONE and ONLY thing we went into Costco for was to get these bags. Someone posted pictures last year before our Oct '15 trip. So, picture hubby & wife enjoying time away from kids while kids are at Aunty's doing the Fish are Friends experience. Picture being at Costco and purchasing "since we were there" - oh, alcohol, prepared food, knick-knacks, Ukelele, then checking out & heading back to Aulani. Then, picture hubby asking wife ... "wasn't there something you were going to get at Costco?" Wife face-palms self, and realizes those bags that she so wanted, she totally forgot to get. Too lazy to go back out & get them :-( Maybe it'll be an excuse to go back to HI!! Of course, we ran into the Costco on the Big Island before Oahu, and I forgot about the bags there too. Duh.

 

[Soccerluvinmama]

Funny - the ONE and ONLY thing we went into Costco for was to get these bags. Someone posted pictures last year before our Oct '15 trip. So, picture hubby & wife enjoying time away from kids while kids are at Aunty's doing the Fish are Friends experience. Picture being at Costco and purchasing "since we were there" - oh, alcohol, prepared food, knick-knacks, Ukelele, then checking out & heading back to Aulani. Then, picture hubby asking wife ... "wasn't there something you were going to get at Costco?" Wife face-palms self, and realizes those bags that she so wanted, she totally forgot to get. Too lazy to go back out & get them :-( Maybe it'll be an excuse to go back to HI!! Of course, we ran into the Costco on the Big Island before Oahu, and I forgot about the bags there too. Duh.

Hahahaha!!! Oh no!!!!!!!