Costco Is Rolling Out a Major Store Change Next Month, and Shoppers Are Not Happy
If you’re an avid reader and a frequent Costco shopper, then your upcoming trips to the warehouse club might look a little different. Starting in 2025, you won’t be able to rely on Costco’s famous table of books to find your next read, depending on when you go to the store.
The Costco book table has been a staple for shoppers who want to buy everything from a Reese Witherspoon book club pick to an exciting cookbook during a regular grocery run. But in the coming weeks, this section is likely to disappear.
Costco reportedly made a few publishing executives aware of the company’s plans to stop selling books in all stores year-round in January 2025, according to The New York Times. The outlet also reported that Costco would bring books back to stores during the holiday months, from September to December.
A few months to buy books isn’t enough for Costco fans who shared their major disappointment in the news in the comments section of a December 3 TikTok from ABC News about the change. “No!! I love the table of books,” one TikTok user wrote. “What a horrible decision,” said another commenter. One person mentioned that the books “were always great as gifts.”
Shoppers in the comments added that they liked buying their books at Costco because the store had “the cheapest prices.”
Costs and labor were apparently a factor in the chain’s decision to get rid of the books. According to The New York Times, the publishing execs with whom Costco shared the news said that the company reportedly cited continual turnaround that requires stocking the books by hand as a sticking point.
It’s not only shoppers who are upset with the news. Robert Gottlieb, a literary agent and chairman at Trident Media Group, detailed the impact for publishers in an interview with The New York Times. “Costco across the country was a big outlet for books,” Gottlieb said. “There are now fewer and fewer places to buy books in a retail environment,” he added.
Publishers Weekly reported in November 2024 that sources say Costco has apparently decided to keep year-round books in 100 of its more than 600 stores. The chain hasn’t commented on the report, but if true, hundreds of Costco stores will still lose their regular book tables.
So, if you spot a few novels or cookbooks while shopping at the warehouse store, buy them while you still can.
This article originally published on The Kitchn. See it there: Costco Is Rolling Out a Major Store Change Next Month, and Shoppers Are Not Happy
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