FOOD NEWS
WinCo Is Even Cheaper Than Costco And Sam's Club, But There's A Major Catch
By Angel Albring
Concentrated in only 10 states, specifically in the western U.S., WinCo Foods is a discount supermarket chain founded in 1967 in Boise, Idaho, that has since grown to over 130 stores. WinCo offers a wide range of grocery products, health and beauty products, household items, and pet supplies at prices that compete with stores like Sam’s Club and Costco.
WinCo is an employee-owned discount grocery store with over 20,000 employee-owners — a factor that allows the company to keep its costs low. Other than that, the chain keeps its prices low by buying lots of its goods directly from farms and factories, having customers bag their own groceries, cutting out frills by having basic store setups, and not advertising with weekly ads.
Open 24 hours a day, WinCo offers special deals and promotions and doesn’t impose membership fees like Costco and Sam's Club do, so anyone can shop with the store. However, while WinCo accepts debit cards and federal food assistance cards, credit cards are not accepted, due to high transaction rates.