Costco is halting the sale of books at nearly all of its stores across the nation from January 2025. The popular section will only return during the holiday season, i.e. from September to December, and sporadically in between.
As reported by The Sun, stocking books is labor-intensive, as workers have to do it by hand and not in bulk by a forklift. All of these books are sent to the warehouses every week, and Costco is forced to return whatever doesn't sell. Sales of the same had already come to a halt in Hawaii and Alaska, but reportedly, it is expected to cover the nation soon.
Costco is scrapping the books section, some customers say good riddance
As reported by the New York Post, the decision follows the surge in the sale of books online, via outlets like Amazon. However, out of the 600+ stores, about 100 Costco outlets will house books, Publisher’s Weekly reported. The retailer initially planned to scrapbooks from all outlets.
“Publishing executives see 2025 as an important year for the future of books at Costco,” the outlet states. “If sales remain strong and a more user-friendly model is created, Costco could return full-year book sections to more stores. If sales decline, however, book sections across the chain could all move to the holiday season model.”
Fans online are disheartened upon learning the news, with many noting that the days of shopping for books within brick-and-mortar stores are slowly fading away. Here's what one user stated:
"I'm sorry to hear this. Book browsing and buying these days, is hard to come by, if you're hoping to do so in person."
Others chimed in as well:
"Costco is removing books from their store. They're claiming it's because restocking is too labor intensive. I'm not buying that. I believe they fear backlash from selling weird liberal books but also fear backlash from not selling them. So they're just removing all books period," someone theorized.
"It didn't make sense for them to sell books at Costco anyways. The selection was never what anyone actually wanted and you were lucky if you could find something released recently that wasn't intended for a doctor's waiting room," another noted.
"They used to have awesome deals on good books. Was my favorite part of Costco," someone else claimed.
However, there were a few who noted that scrapping the books aisle was worth it.
Trending
Per the New York Times, if book sales continue to do well, Costco may bring back the books section to more stores.
Reply
