Costco Wholesale pizza withdrawal cases are mounting in Hackensack

Now that small businesses can get delivery of orders they place online, the parking lot at the Costco Wholesale Business Center on South River Street in Hackenack usually is almost empty, as it was last Monday afternoon.

On Monday, the shuttered food court from the old Costco warehouse looked like it did in this March 15 photo. Employees said a renovated food court is expected to open in the first week of May.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

As a supplier to restaurants and pizzerias, Costco Wholesale Business Centers sell pizza boxes, but not the pies themselves.

The Business Center in Hackensack is different, however, because it's a renovated Costco warehouse with a food court that catered mainly to consumers for more than 21 years before closing last October.

When the warehouse reopened on March 15 with a new sign and a new purpose, the food court remained closed, but employees said it would reopen in a couple of weeks.

On Monday, when I stopped by for one of Costco's 18-inch veggie-combo pizzas ($9.95), the food court still was closed.

But I was assured the food court will indeed open in the first week of May.

As the opening has been delayed, I've been showing Costco pizza withdrawal symptoms.

No-pizza diet

The last slice of Costco pizza I had was more than six months ago, on Oct. 15, when the new, bigger and more crowded Costco Wholesale opened in Teterboro.

I could get only a slice of the regular cheese pizza (which is cut into two smaller slices), and, as usual, it was gooey and filling.

I went on a no-pizza, no-bread diet to lose weight more than five years ago, so I only allow myself the guilty pleasure of a couple of slices of Costco pizza once or twice a year.

The pies are pre-made, and baked in a conveyor-belt oven that can't be slowed, if you want a well-done pie -- my preference.

I usually put one or two slices in my oven at home, and crisp them up.

I saw 22-ounce jars of refrigerated Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto marked down last Monday at the Costco Wholesale Business Center, apparently because of a freeze/use by day of April 27.

The price was cut in half to $3.97.

I bought two 34.5-ounce bags of Quaker Simply Granola for about $1.85 a pound, below.

Details

Costco Wholesale Business Center, 80 S. River St., Hackensack; 201-296-3044. Food court, 201-296-3061. Call for warehouse hours. Closed Sundays.

Costco Wholesale throws a party to preview bigger store in Teterboro

From the entrance, above, to the desk that handles new memberships and merchandise returns, below, everything is bigger at the new Costco Wholesale in the Teterboro Landing Shopping Center off of Route 46 in Teterboro, a 3-mile drive from the Hackensack warehouse store, which closed tonight. Teterboro also has a Costco gas station, where regular is $179.9 a gallon.

The Teterboro Costco will open for business at 8 tomorrow morning, but only to members. Tonight, members and non-members were invited to attend a party with food and non-alcoholic drinks, smoothies and iced coffee.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You still can't get a great cup of coffee at the newest Costco Wholesale in New Jersey.

And the liquor store won't be stocking Costco's private label wines, French champagne or Italian prosecco.

A third disappointment is that you will have to go elsewhere to have your wheels aligned after landing a great deal on tires.

Yes. The Teterboro Costco is far bigger and brighter than the Hackensack warehouse, which closed tonight after 21 years.

But the new members-only warehouse store reminds you of the saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The location of the new store, across the street from a busy business airport, allows members to gawk at the millionaires and VIPs who come and go in sleek but noisy passenger jets.

Costco Wholesale, 2 Teterboro Landing Drive, Teterboro; 201-596-7001. Open 7 days.

For normal hours, check the Website: 

Where the jet set shops for deals

The Teterboro Costco has a larger Dairy, above, and more room devoted to fresh produce, below.

Sunset-brand sweet peppers and tomatoes are grown in hothouses.

The cold room with salads and other items is about four times the size of the one in the old store.

Costco comes through with giant teddy bears.

Tables with non-alcoholic drinks and food were set up throughout the Teterboro store tonight, above and below.

Unfortunately, most of the food was aimed at meat eaters.

Hummus, above, and raw vegetables, below, were among the few options for people who don't eat meat or poultry.

Among the store's seafood offerings is fresh wild-caught ahi tuna for $14.99 a pound.

There are many more tables and chairs in the new food court, but a cup of coffee still isn't available.

NB Liquors will be handling beer and wine sales, with a separate entrance open to members and non-members alike, similar to the arrangement at the Hackensack warehouse. But members still will have to drive to the Wayne Costco for private-label Kirkland Signature wines, champagne and prosecco.

You'll find the usual great Costco prices on Michelin tires, but then you'll have to get your wheels aligned elsewhere. That's like going to Costco to have your eyes examined, then being told you can pick out a frame, but will have to go someplace else to have the glasses made.

The Teterboro parking lot corrals are bigger, but the shopping carts aren't sheltered.

On the last day of business at the Hackensack Costco, above, shelves were noticeably empty, and I couldn't find a number of items on my list, including smoked wild salmon, pears, bananas and cage-free organic brown eggs.

Hackensack Costco members are accustomed to seeing merchandise stacked to the ceiling. Next year, the store will reopen as a Costco Business Center, catering to small businesses and other members, with delivery and cash and carry.

An oversized slice of Costco's fresh-baked pizza from the food court is $1.99, and a 20-ounce seltzer is 59 cents. Unfortunately, you can't get a well-done pizza. This slice had way too much cheese and a floppy crust, and a slice of the vegetable combo pie wasn't available in Hackensack or at the party in Teterboro. An 18-inch pie is $9.95.

Should Costco offer anchovies on its pizza?

If you live in Hackensack, as I do, any debate about great pizza begins and ends with Brooklyn's, the coal-oven place on Hackensack Avenue that doesn't charge extra for the attitude baked into every pie: no slices, no delivery, no credit cards.

But there's no denying the appeal of the massive, 18-inch pie made fresh at Costco less than a mile away -- and at $9.95, it's a comparative steal. You can get slices at Costco, but you can't get anchovies as one of the toppings. And if you ask for it well done, they just humor you, because the pie is baked on a moving belt whose speed can't be varied.

I topped the pie I brought home this evening for dinner with anchovies, olive oil from the can, and slices of the wild lox I buy at Costco. To get some crisp into the crust after the pie had cooled, I baked my slices for about 20 minutes in a 350-degree oven. The Costco pie is doughy, but has lots of full-fat cheese. Each pie has 12 slices.

In my youth, I ate my first slices of pizza at Spumoni Gardens, near Lafayette High School, in Brooklyn. You could hold a well-done slice at the thick end and it wouldn't droop at the point. You can't do that with either a Brooklyn's or a Costco slice.

I can't resist all that luxurious-tasting cheese on the Costco pie. I'm ashamed to say I ate 5 of the 12 slices for dinner, plus a big salad, but I assure you the slices were smaller than in a typical pizza. The rest went into the freezer. (This post has been revised.)