4 Major Changes You'll See at Costco In 2025
The past year has been a remarkable period of change for America's preeminent warehouse club chain. Throughout 2024, Costco opened dozens of new stores, switched the packaging for its famous $4.99 rotisserie chicken, and implemented its first membership fee hike in seven years.
It also introduced new membership card scanners at its entrances, dropped prices on essential grocery items, discontinued a beloved baking ingredient, and made some major additions to its food court menu.
While 2025 has yet to officially kick off, the retailer has already unveiled some huge changes that are in the pipeline for next year—all of which will directly impact Costco's millions of paying members. If 2024 is any indication, the warehouse club will likely announce even more new developments as 2025 unfolds. But for now, here are the four major changes you'll see at Costco in 2025.
Dozens of new warehouse openings
Costco already boasts nearly 900 warehouses across the globe, but the retailer plans to become much, much larger in 2025 and beyond. This past fall, the company unveiled exciting plans to open 29 locations during its 2025 fiscal year (which runs from September through August). Though Costco hasn't shared a full list of its planned 2025 openings, its website shows that Brentwood, Calif.; Genesee County, Mich.; Highland, Calif.; Prosper, Texas; Sharon, Mass.; and Weatherford, Texas, are all slated to receive a new warehouse in March 2025. Fans should keep checking Costco's "new locations" page for the latest information on upcoming openings.
The warehouse club plans to keep up this rapid growth pace even after 2025 comes to a close. During a December earnings call, CEO Ron Vachris revealed that the company wants to open about 30 warehouses annually for the next few years. A "good portion" of those locations will be outside of the United States in major markets like Europe, Asia, Canada, and Mexico, Vachris added.
Farewell, books
Once 2024 comes to a close, many Costco shoppers will lose regular access to a super popular product category: books. This past June, the New York Times reported that most Costco warehouses will stop selling books year-round at the start of 2025. The reason for this change? Books were simply too much work for Costco to sell, as workers are required to stock them by hand and then frequently update the displays with new arrivals.
Warehouses will still offer books from September through December for the holiday shopping season, and Publishers Weekly has reported that 100 Costco locations will continue to sell them year-round. But at the remaining Costco warehouses, books will become much more of a rarity in 2025.
Major improvements in the shopping experience
Costco is working to enhance several parts of its business to make the shopping experience more rewarding for members in 2025. The recent rollout of its new membership card scanners at warehouse entrances, for example, is one of the changes Costco says will benefit customers moving forward.
During a September earnings call, CFO Gary Millerchip said that the scanners provide warehouses with "real-time traffic counts throughout the day." Costco locations can leverage this traffic data to better serve their customers, such as making staffing adjustments and opening and closing lines based on how busy they are. Costco staff members can also use the traffic numbers provided by the scanners to make sure they have enough fresh food items out on shelves for their customers at a given time, Millerchip added.
Costco has been making gradual improvements to its app and website—both of which have faced major shopper criticism in the past—and plans to continue leaning into technology to evolve the customer experience in 2025.
"We're going to keep an eye out there on technology and make sure that we're doing our part to keep the experience as strong as we can for our members," Vachris said during a December earnings call.
Exciting new products will hit shelves
From craveworthy bakery treats to luxury household items, exciting new products are almost constantly hitting shelves at Costco. In 2025, shoppers should expect to see more of the same.
During a December earnings call, Vachris noted Costco's recent success in adding unique new offerings to its product selection, such as its quick-selling gold bars and platinum bars. He praised the "great work by our buying team" in finding new product categories that resonate with members, and hinted that even more new items are heading to warehouses in the future.
"I see them working hard on the next categories that are going to be coming for us," Vachris said of Costco's buying team.
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