We compared shopping at Costco in the city and in the suburbs — and the loser was abundantly clear

• We visited Costco stores in New York City and Norwalk, Connecticut to compare a city location to a suburban one.
• The stores themselves were nearly identical.
• But despite having similar layouts and offerings at both stores, the experience of shopping at Costco in the suburbs had some key advantages.

With over 500 stores all over the US, Costco is one of the most popular places to shop in bulk.

And when you think of the wholesale chain, you probably think of suburban families loading up their SUVs with their haul of groceries.

But Costco does have urban locations, including one in Manhattan.

We visited two Costco locations — one in suburban Norwalk, Connecticut, and one in Harlem, New York City, to find out which provided a better shopping experience.

The stores were strikingly similar, from store layout to the items they had in stock. But we concluded that it's ultimately much easier to shop at Costco in the suburbs for a few key reasons.

Keep reading for more on why it's better to shop at Costco in the suburbs.

For our comparison, we visited a suburban Costco store in Norwalk, Connecticut ...

... and Costco's only store in Manhattan, which is located in Harlem.

The Costco location in Norwalk is conveniently located right off of I-95, a major highway on the East Coast.