When you cross the border, you see discount stores everywhere like Target, Kmart and Wal-Mart. In fact, 87 per cent of total retail sales in the States are at discounters.
But a Consumer Reports survey reveals there are deals to be had elsewhere.
"While Wal-Mart's prices are pretty good, we found the deals are at least as good at 10 other chains," Tod Marks said.
And almost 75 per cent of Wal-Mart shoppers polled reported a problem, such as long checkout lines and missing merchandise while shopping at their stores.
Target, another big discounter, rated better than Wal-Mart. But even though it's known for "cheap chic" clothing, Target got some low marks for quality.
"We found that - you know what - not everybody thinks that that ‘cheap chic' merchandise is anything to write home about," Marks said.
"In fact, women's clothing and jewelry got below average scores."
Costco, with its rock-bottom prices, also comes out on top in the survey, with people saying they enjoy the merchandise variety, bargains and, of course, great prices.
While Costco doesn't carry every product, people rated quality on home décor, hardware, jewelry, and watches much better than average, and its clothing did almost as well. Long checkout lines were the one complaint.
"Besides being the top overall scorer, Costco has a great return policy, one of the most generous in the business. With the exception of electronics, you can return anything, anytime, for any reason," Marks said.
Costco has a 90-day return policy for electronics, but unlike other chains, there's no restocking fee.
Also not included in the survey were common Canadian discounters Zellers and Home Outfitters, Winners and Home Sense.
The bottom line is if you are planning any discount shopping the first step is knowing your prices before you go -- and always pay attention to quality.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen
