Size matters at Costco Wholesale's Business Center in Hackensack

Whole frozen lambs from New Zealand, above, and 20-pound boxes of linguine and other pasta, below, are typical of the sizes available at Costco Wholesale's Business Center in Hackensack. The warehouse offers discounts on pallet-size purchases and delivery to small businesses, including restaurants and caterers.  

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

For the Costco Wholesale member who runs out of egg whites and organic spring mix, the reopened warehouse in Hackensack is ideal.

Parking is no longer a problem, because many of the customers are small businesses who order online and get delivery.

But as a Business Center, this Costco stocks only a limited number of the food products you'll find at the enormous, far busier warehouse in Teterboro.

Still, today in Hackensack, I picked up several items we ran out of since our last Teterboro shopping trip, and found others unavailable.

Food court pizza

The food court's reopening has been delayed, however, and I couldn't pick up, as planned, a freshly baked 18-inch combination veggie pizza for $9.95.

Employees in Hackensack said two things of interest: 

Prices at the Business Center don't always match those at Teterboro warehouse, and may be lower. 

I found one item, a 1-pound container of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, was 50 cents higher on March 15, opening day in Hackensack. 

On Monday, the same spring mix was $4.29 or what we've paid several times in Teterboro.

No treasure hunt

And the Hackensack staff won't be moving items around to create the "treasure hunt" that Costco's regular warehouses are known for, even though that practice frustrates longtime members.

Other purchases today were 3 pounds of bananas for $1.39 (organic bananas aren't available); and four cartons of Egg Beaters 100% egg whites ($9.39).

The parking lot at the Costco Wholesale Business Center, 80 S. River St., Hackensack, a little before 1 p.m. today. This warehouse closes on Sundays.

This pallet sale could give you a couple of decades of oil changes.

Commercial refrigerators for restaurants and caterers.

Log Cabin Syrup comes in 128-ounce bottles, above, but nearby, Costco members will find something far superior, Kirkland Signature Maple Syrup from Canada, below.

Bagels, English muffins and sliced bread also are available.

The 16-portion box of Shin Ramyun, a Korean-style instant spicy noodle soup, usually is on sale for a better price at the H Mart in Little Ferry less than 2 miles away.

H Mart also sells 50-pound bags of Kokuho Rose Yellow Label White Rice grown in California, but here Costco might have the edge on price over the Korean supermarket. On Sunday, I bought a 15-pound bag of the same rice on sale for $9.99 at the Little Ferry H Mart, and my receipt listed the retail price as $19.99. The Hackensack warehouse also stocks another Korean item, Kirkland Signature Roasted Seasoned Seaweed.

You'll find 10-pound bags of couscous, above, and 15-pound bags of quinoa, below.

I'm out of Nature's Intent Organic Quinoa, and almost grabbed this 15-pound bag before realizing it is conventionally grown in Peru, compared to the 4-pound bags of Organic Quinoa for about twice the price per pound in Teterboro.

Nature's Bakery Fig Bar is my favorite skip-lunch snack, but today, I decided to try another one, picking up KIND Fruit & Nut Variety Pack (18 bars for $17.99).

The Hackensack warehouse is offering six cans of Season Skinless & Boneless Sardines in Pure Olive Oil for $6.99 after an instant coupon. These are ideal for pasta with sardines in bottled sauce (three 4.375-ounce cans for 1 pound of pasta). I didn't see pasta sauce or cans of organic diced tomatoes in Hackensack today.

A 3-pound bag of sodium-free Whole Almonds from California ($17.99) can be roasted and dusted with cinnamon (1 hour and 20 minutes in a 275-degree oven).

You'll also find the superior Kirkland Signature line of spices in Hackensack, including Saigon Cinnamon, next to 3-pound containers for restaurants and caterers, below.

An enormous refrigerated room, bigger than anything at the old Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, above and below, contains frozen meat, individual racks of lamb, whole eggs and cartons of egg whites; milk, organic spring mix, chopped salad and other items.

On refrigerated shelves outside the cold room I found two of our favorite items, Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto, made with Italian basil ($7.99); and 3-pound bags of Christopher Ranch Whole Peeled Garlic Cloves ($7.39).

A 2-pound "gourmet medley" of greenhouse-grown Tomatoes from Sunset were $6.49. I tried them in my organic spring mix salad. A 2-pound container of Sunset Campari Tomatoes were $4.99.

Cut-up goat on the bone in 15-pound boxes, New Zealand racks of lamb in 19-pound boxes, whole ducks and other frozen meat is available.

Frozen goat meat from Australia is sold in 35-pound boxes, too.

Fresh seafood isn't sold in Hackensack any longer, but you'll find bags of frozen salmon burgers, wild Alaskan salmon, mahi-mahi and other fish from Trident and Kirkland Signature, Costco's house label.

You'd have to do a lot of Mexican cooking to use a 100-ounce can of tomatillos.

Hackensack warehouse to reopen soon as Costco Business Center

The Costco Wholesale warehouse on South River Street in Hackensack closed in mid-October, but now is preparing to reopen.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The parking lot at the old Costco warehouse in Hackensack is filling up again.

But this time, the cars belong to construction workers and other preparing to reopen the warehouse as a Costco Business Center on March 15.

The warehouse closed in mid-October after 21 years, and a bigger Costco Wholesale opened in a shopping center off of Route 46 in Teterboro.

The Business Center in Hackensack will be only the second on the East Coast to serve small businesses, and will offer both cash-and-carry and delivery. The first is in Georgia.

Hours will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, until 4 p.m. on Saturdays and closed on Sundays, according to Costco.com. 

The warehouse also will have a food court, according to the Web site.

When the Hackensack Costco reopens, members won't find any apparel, jewelry, sporting goods, CDs, toys or seasonal merchandise, and no pharmacy, optical department, bakery or tire shop.

But Costco plans to serve restaurants and caterers, so there should be plenty of food to interest members who don't own a small business.

A Costco Business Center fact sheet lists "fresh and frozen meats, produce and other food products."

Costco Business Center, 80 S. River St., Hackensack; 201-296-3044. Opens March 15.

Two Kirkland Signature Organic Large Grade AA Eggs from Costco Wholesale, poached in Victoria-brand Vodka Sauce. Now, Costco sells two dozen of the free-range eggs at a time for $6.99. It isn't known whether food will be sold in the same size packages as now when the Hackensack warehouse reopens as a Business Center catering to restaurants and other small businesses.