Costco

Costco is... Costco. This particular review is of their bakery cake selection. It's a really good deal for a lot of cake, but the selections have been narrowed versus what they've done in the past. White cake with white frosting or chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - those are your choices. The patterns for decoration are also pretty limited. (See picture from 9/7/21) (Update: on the order form, there is an option for a graduation design where you can pick school colors. The design has a mortar board and plenty of room for a customized message. This is what we needed for our recent celebration, and it actually worked out really well. I bumped up the review from three stars to four based on our experience.) On the upside, they have rapid turnaround times; they're only asking for a day to get you have a giant cake ready for you with customized writing. And the cake is good quality, but not high-end bakery quality, but neither are the prices.

The Goleta Costco is typical of this big box warehouse. They have an outdoor food courtyard ($1.50 hotdogs) and tire center but no gas station. They sell a wide variety of goods and offer a number services The prices are good and seasonal merchandise is displayed prominently near the front entrance. They have a great selection of wines and liquor at very reasonable prices. There is an in-house bakery offering a large selection of breads, pies and pastries. If you find something you like get it because it may be gone when you check back. Of course they sell the famous Costco cooked whole chicken.

I have been phoning around CVS, Rite Aide, etc to try and find somewhere that will a) do a passport photo and b) do one for the UK passport size. Firstly Costco answered the phone straight away and with a real live person who was friendly and helpful. The other places have a numbering system when you call their office number and when you finally get a person, none of them knew if they did passport photos and had to find out if they did them and then if they did a UK size. None of them do bar the CVS on Carrillo who reluctantly took one which I paid for but its the wrong size. Thank goodness for Costco.