6 Beloved Costco Items That Were Discontinued in 2024
Savvy Costco shoppers know the pitfalls of getting too attached to popular grocery items. Much like a character on HBO's Game of Thrones, your favorites are not long for this world, and in the cast of Costco, many items are routinely discontinued—and many are items customers desperately want back.
Once-popular products like the food court's Combo Pizza have disappeared despite being customer favorites. These changes don't just impact foods. Starting in 2025, Costco warehouses will stop selling books year-round.
Looking back on 2024, several notable items were discontinued, much to the dismay of Costco shoppers. While a similar item is almost always ready to replace the discontinued good, many shoppers have gotten used to a particular brand or flavor over the years, making the adjustment period frustrating at best. However, some shoppers use a method that can at least help prepare for an item being pulled from shelves.
When shopping in the warehouse, Costco members can look for the so-called "Death Star." This asterisk, located in the upper right-hand corner of the price tag, indicates that an item is on its way out and that specific location will no longer stock it.
Here's a look at some of the items that Costco has removed from shelves this year.
Kirkland Signature Chocolate Chips
Bakers were in for a rude awakening in 2024 when Costco pulled the Kirkland Signature Chocolate Chips from shelves. This change affected both the semi-sweet and the 51% semi-sweet chips, sold in red and blue bags, respectively. The Kirkland-brand chocolate chips were replaced with Nestlé Toll House chocolate chips.
One Costco member noticed the impending changes, writing on Reddit, "My Costco put the death star on Kirkland Chocolate Chip and got Nestle Chocolate Chip instead. The worst change of Costco I've seen." Another shopper shared their disdain for the Nestlé variety of chocolate chips, commenting, "Costco just lost yet ANOTHER sale from me! Nestle chocolate chips are a vile product with a wax-like consistency, don't melt well, don't have a rich chocolate flavor, AND have artificial vanilla. What a disappointment."
The chips' removal is especially disappointing for shoppers with dietary restrictions. As one shopper shared on Reddit, "The Kirkland chips are one of the few that are dairy-free. My family has members with true anaphylactic dairy allergies. Kirkland brand was our go-to chip."
Kirkland Signature Country French Bread
Costco's bakery offers a mix of products that come and go along with customer favorites that stand the test of time. One item in the latter category that customers found to be discontinued in 2024 was the Kirkland Signature Country French Bread.
Rumors started swirling that the bread could be discontinued over the summer after a customer raised the alarm on Reddit. A few months later, another Costco shopper asked fellow Redditors if the bread had been discontinued, and one user replied, "Sadly, yes. My wife inquired about it directly at the bakery, and they told her it had been discontinued."
Food Court Churros
2024 started on a sour note for Costco shoppers who enjoy a trip to the food court during their visits. Beyond its beloved $1.50 hot dog and soda combo, the Costco food court also used to carry churros as a sweet treat to munch on while you shop. S adly, the churro was discontinued at the start of the year.
Many Costco locations saw the churro replaced by the now-ubiquitous double chunk chocolate chip cookies. Reactions were divided. with some Costco members appearing more than fine with this change. As For instance, one Redditor seemed fine with the change, sharing, "The churros have been dead to me since they moved to the twisted ones anyway." Meanwhile, a churro fan on Reddit bemoaned the loss, writing, "Where else am I supposed to get a churro? I can get cookies anywhere, but churros? Only at Costco."
Classic Kirkland Muffins
Costco's bakery is filled with pantry essentials. If you've shopped at Costco for any length of time, you've probably been going home with packages of the Kirkland brand muffins on occasion. If this is you, then you probably noticed the muffins go through several changes in 2024 that have essentially discontinued the classic formula of oversized six-packs.
The changes began in the summer when customers noticed smaller muffins arriving in the bakery. The six-pack of gargantuan muffins was now an eight-pack of more modestly-sized pastries. Fans of Costco's chocolate muffins were particularly upset to see their faves reduced in size. The final straw for many customers came in December when eagle-eyed Costco members spotted a 58% price hike for the new eight-packs.
Customers are less than pleased with the drastic swap out, with one sharing on Reddit, "Not impressed with the muffin change at Costco. Can only buy one pack for $7." They went on to share their impression of a decline in quality, noting, "The chocolate muffins taste awful, the pumpkin muffins just fall apart into tiny pieces, and the almond poppyseed muffins are discontinued. I'll be passing on buying muffins from now on."
Kirkland Signature Organic Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk
For many kids, chocolate milk is the ultimate lunchtime beverage. That's why so many parents found the 24-count packages of Kirkland Signature Organic Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk milk boxes so convenient to pick up during their grocery runs. Over the last couple of months in 2024, however, many parents noticed the chocolate milk missing from their Costco warehouse.
A shopper in Ohio noticed the lack of chocolate milk in November, asking on Reddit, "Has the Kirkland signature chocolate milk been discontinued? I buy the individual chocolate milk things to pack in my kids' lunches, and I didn't see it in store today, and I can't find it online." A month later, another shopper posed a similar concern, asking, "Have the Kirkland Signature Organic Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk boxes been discontinued? They were a staple in our home, and now we can't find them anymore, not even on the website."
One Costco shopper who tracks prices and availability commented that they "can confirm that it is out of stock in over 70% of the warehouses." They even shared a screenshot that showed the "dreaded" discounted 97-cent price, indicating a clearance item that will soon be taken off store shelves.
Kirkland Red Grapefruit Cups
Fruit cups make for an easy and healthy snack, whether you are packing a school lunch or just looking for something to eat at home in the afternoon. Costco sells a variety of Kirkland-brand fruit cups, including Red Grapefruit. However, that particular flavor seemed to go missing in 2024. One shopper shared on Reddit, "I confirmed with Costco that the Kirkland brand grapefruit cups have been discontinued, at least for now." The company behind the packaging for Costco, Del Monte, no longer had a packaging line for the Kirkland brand of fruit cups, the commenter explained.
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