The difference is palpable from the moment you drive up: There’s decorative trim on the building; it’s slightly less boxlike than any other. The parking lot lanes are wide, the store is neat as a pin, and lines minimal. This is the place to stock up for parties and feed big families, with its strong focus on prepared and heat-and-eat foods and a huge bakery selection (garlic bread!). But what makes the food selection stand out is the variety within each category. Costco’s business model, generally, is that they limit options. One brand of spaghetti, one size package, take it or leave it. Issaquah doesn’t adhere to that quite as tightly—rumor is they test which products do well before expanding to other locations. Sure, I noticed a few things I hadn’t seen (yet?) elsewhere, like packaged Dubai-style chocolate pistachio almond milk lattes, but more intriguingly, they stocked multiple types of a single item—for example, both the familiar Smucker’s-branded Uncrustables AND the lesser-known Charlotte’s Crustoffs.

A piece of wall from the original Costco Wholesale location (adjacent to the current one) reminds shoppers of the company’s local history, along with a timeline displayed in Costco shelving and price tags. But nostalgia is not the only draw here. The parking lot, though big and crowded, seems to have been actually designed for safety and order; there are pedestrian walkways and crosswalks. It’s a top-notch Costco for food shopping, with the most diverse selection: One shelf alone proffered chimichurri, chutney, and local salsas. The produce area is huge, with significant turnover, which means things stay fresh. Inside it seems like someone thought more about design than at other locations. It feels roomy, even when crowded, with tons of registers and even space for the lines. (Unfortunately, that does not carry over to the food court, which is often jam-packed.) The gas station, mercifully far from the store, leaves ample room for organized lines—and it has one of only two Costco car washes in the state (the other is in Bellingham).

Of the top four, Redmond is by far the most complete store; it rivals the others on food, with the bonus of full home, beauty, and tool sections. It’s quite an average store in many ways—parking lot hassle, lines, store size—and exceptional in a few: Though the liquor section here is small, it skews the most high-end of local stores. And, while all the Eastside stores do a decent job stocking South Asian products, Redmond carries twin-packs of 28-ounce jars of Mother’s Recipe ginger garlic paste and seven different types of dal—Issaquah, for comparison, offers only four.

Designed for businesses, but open to anyone, the Costco Business Center is slightly different than the average Costco: no samples, very little nonfood-related stock, and no food court (though it does sell frozen chicken bakes). What it does have is a bounty of kitchen equipment (sheet pan heaven!) and a lunch packer’s paradise. There are individual snack packs of all kinds (Takis, Tim’s, and Zapp’s), and the soft drink selection is unmatched, with flats of Shasta, Fanta, and Martinelli’s. There are Lunchables! The walk-in produce and dairy sections go on forever and you can buy a whole goat, if the need arises. The parking lot is awkward, but the location right off Highway 99 is convenient, and the line for gas stays reasonable on off-peak hours.

The major ding against this one is that it’s a bit of a trek from Seattle, but the warehouse makes it worth the drive, especially for nonfood items: It has an excellent home section, K-beauty-filled bath and body aisles, and the largest children’s clothing selection. The layout is basic and easy to navigate; the lines get long but mostly stay out of the aisles. The parking lot is similarly functional, even if the gas lines require snaking through a bit of a maze.

This store is a bit of an anomaly, significantly smaller than any other in the area besides the Business Center. It’s not the place to shop for a complete re-stock, but that makes it much calmer than other locations, especially during slower hours. It hews closely to Redmond in product selection, with tons of South Asian products and an even broader liquor section. There’s also a sneaky financial argument for shopping at this Costco, too, especially for large purchases: Because it is located in unincorporated Snohomish County, the sales tax is 7.9 percent—Seattle, by comparison, is 10.35, Lynnwood, 10.6.

The sprawling parking lot manages to stay pretty organized at the store in Costco’s hometown, the namesake of its house brand. The same can be said for the interior, helped by the covered outdoor food court, which allows for an easy walk-up hot dog without the hassle of going inside (Issaquah has this, too). The beauty section is strong, but overall, there’s little selection-wise that makes this one particularly special beyond logistics.

The parking lot is huge and the store is small, which is unfortunately a recipe for very long lines. Even on a weekday morning, snaking queues fill up some of the actual shopping space, often rendering the pharmacy and snack sections difficult to navigate. If you’re ready for a wait, it does have one of the better assortments of home goods and a rather lovely plant section. Foodwise, the diverse products are enticing—a strong mix of South Asian and East Asian products—but then you hit the too-small dairy walk-in and realize the butter is all the way back across the store.

Among the largest Costco locations in the country and significantly larger than any other in the area, Tukwila seemed like a favorite for a high ranking. But all that space is mind-bogglingly badly organized. The too-small parking lots run parallel and adjacent to the building, meaning few spaces anywhere near the entrance, and the gas line situation is untenable. Inside, the flow-less layout makes a maze of a pretty straightforward space, leading shoppers to dark corners, mismatched sections, and oddities like nonalcoholic drinks in multiple different locations. Size matters, but only if you know what you’re doing with it.

In a city filled with excellent Costcos, this one manages to be truly mediocre at almost everything. The parking lot is a disaster nearly all the time and God forbid you want to go south or west as you leave it (you can’t). The selection is bland, with little of the specialty products of neighboring stores. Every trip ends on a sour note as shoppers finish in the mini aisles of snacks at the front, attempting to navigate the narrow space while dragging giant carts already stacked high with their finds. It’s futile, as the lines to checkout get long and back up into those same constricted spaces. Also, somehow all the other Costcos have figured out how to have ample boxes for customers at the registers. Not Shoreline! This location is so bad that it actually inspired this article, partially out of misplaced hope that the Costco closest to my house wasn’t actually the worst one in town. Nope, Shoreline Costco lets me down yet again.