An announcement made by warehouse retail chain, Costco, late last year will cause big changes for the shopping experience of its bookworm customers. It truly could not be a worse time to be an enjoyer of print media as paperback readers face a new hinderance in the form of the company’s decision to eliminate the book section from most of its stores.
Big change doesn’t always benefit the people
Costco’s famous table of books will be a relic living on only in memory as of 2025 and customers are not pleased in the slightest. The beloved browsing section known to provide readers, both avid and casual, with a literary treat during grocery runs will slowly but surely disappear from the vast majority of over 900 Costco locations.
The retail chain giant has decided a “holiday season model” for its book sales would be a better approach and as such, a book selection will only available for sale at Costco warehouses during the last four months of 2025. When considering the sheer volume of sales potential held by the company, the choice to cut out a whole department this way is almost certain to have a negative ripple effect in the industry.
How are customers reading into this issue of books?
The news of this decision was not received well by customers, especially because they felt that this book selection offered the cheapest prices when compared to other stores. In a TikTok post made by ABC News on December 3, upset customers took to the comment section with complaints and disappointment. One user commented, “What a horrible decision”, whilst another noted that the books “were always great as gifts”. Customers were also of the opinion that a few months a year is simply not enough time for book shopping.
The dismay towards this decision is not just limited to customers looking for a good deal, but extends to the publishing industry as well. In an interview with The New York Times, literary agent and chairman of Trident Media Group, Robert Gottlieb, shared how this change will impact publishers. Gottlieb outlined that, “Costco across the country was a big outlet for books,” and further reiterated his disappointment by mentioning how, “there are now fewer and fewer places to buy books in a retail environment.”
Is this the epilogue for book sales at Costco?
The company’s decision to scrap the table of books from the vast majority of its stores comes as a result of cost and labor factors. Publishing executives had shared with The New York Times that Costco reportedly cited continual turnaround that requires hand stocking of books as the final straw that led to this decision being made. The retailer is known to constantly change up the layout of each of its stores on a regular basis — a sore point for customers as well. This begs the question of whether this entire issue could have been avoided if the business merely simplified the model used to run a warehouse.
It is rumored from sources that the company will still have approximately 100 stores that will sell books throughout the year. This was reported by Publishers Weekly in November 2024, however, the warehouse chain is yet to comment on the validity of this claim. However, if there is some truth to this rumor, close to 800 locations will no longer be stocking books, and this figure does not include the upcoming 25 new locations that are set to be opened during the course of the year.
It remains to be seen if the company has some sort of gameplan to placate its customers for the inconvenience, in terms of both time and budget, that this change is causing.