I went to the Costco in Kawasaki and was actually impressed. Husband, who hates shopping, was also impressed. They have a fair range of all sorts of products, including kids toys, clothes and seasonal items (including Xmas things).
One of the big reasons that I wanted to go was to get a box of the coveted "Kirklands Signature Baby Wipes"
They come in a huge box of 900 wipes- which are 9 packets of 100 wipes in each.
They are very thick compared to most Japanese wipes. You may have read here that Pampers are my favourite wipes in Japan; so how do they compare:
Well, the size is about the same.
Kirklands wipes seem thicker, but I am not sure if wipes this thick are actually necessary. It feel like wiping with a square of cotton, which seems a little wasteful. But, at the end of the day it is all about how it biodegrades and I am not sure if it is better/worse than Pampers. Kirklands does say on their website that they do biodegrade so good for them.
Pampers wipes have a lotion on them which is really nice. Silky smooth. It kind of works like a barrier that makes the next 'mess' a bit easier to clean. But providing I get to the 'mess' before my little one sits down, then it usually isn't a problem anyway.
They are both alcohol free, but it looks like Kirlands are paraben free. The old formula used to have formaldehyde in it but not any more. These are the ingredients: WATER, ALOE BARBADENSIS, LEAF JUICE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, DISODIUM COCOAMPHODIACETATE, POLYSORBATE 20, CITRIC ACID, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM EDTA, ETHYLENE BRASSYLATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, SODIUM BENZOATE
Pampers on the other hand have parabens and other not nice sounding things: Water, dimethicone, PG, (acrylates / isodecanoic acid vinyl) crosspolymer, phosphoric acid Na, sorbitan oleate, benzoic acid Na, methylparaben, EDTA-2Na, hydroxide Na, ethyl paraben, propyl paraben, Bizabororu, tri (caprylic / capric acid) glyceryl, aloe vera juice, chamomile extract.
Kirklands come with a hard flip lid/seal on each pack of their wipes (to keep the freshness in). Pampers use a re-stickable seal. But this isn't a feature I care too much about, as I have the refillable container for the Pampers wipes, so they were always fresh.
As for price:
On Amazon Kirklands are 3980yen for 900. Which is 4.4yen a wipe. (I will update after my next Costco visit with the Costco price, but I forgot the correct price...)
*** Update- Costco price is 2738yen- so that is 3.04 per wipe, being much cheaper. At the moment they are on sale at Costco for 2188yen (2.43 per wipe)***
On Amazon Pampers wipes are 2590yen for 756wipes. Which is 3.4yen per wipe.
~In Summary~
When I first bought the Kirklands box I regretted it. I really liked the lotion of the Pampers, and thought wipes as thick as Kirklands were a bit of an overkill. However, after learning they they are paraben free I am quite happy with Kirklands, and would probably choose them over Pampers for that reason.
Pampers are cheaper, and can be obtained easily from drug stores and baby stores in Japan. But I think that Kirklands wipes are probably the more baby friendly and environmentally friendly, so because of that they have my vote (but only just...).
