Costco doesn’t do anything small. The company sells hot dogs by the hundred-million, moves pallets of toilet paper like it’s currency, and somehow convinces grown adults to fight over rotisserie chickens on a Tuesday. So when the warehouse giant announces a slate of changes for 2026, you pay attention — because these aren’t minor tweaks. They’re the kind of shifts that will change how you shop, how fast you get out, and what you’re eating in the food court.
Here are eight changes either already rolling out or arriving soon at a Costco near you.
35 New Warehouses Are Opening, but Five Aren’t What You Think
Costco opened 24 new warehouses in 2025. For 2026, they’re going bigger — 35 new locations are planned, which would bring the total store count to roughly 649. CEO Ron Vachris announced the expansion during a fourth-quarter earnings call in September 2025.
But here’s the wrinkle: five of those 35 aren’t brand-new markets. They’re relocations. Costco is moving five high-volume stores to larger properties with bigger parking lots and bigger gas stations. The old buildings? They’re being repurposed as Costco Business Centers — stripped-down warehouses geared toward restaurants, offices, and small businesses. Think less “family of four loading up on Goldfish crackers” and more “restaurant owner buying 40 pounds of chicken thighs at 6 a.m.”
Specific stores confirmed to open by the end of April 2026 include locations in Roseville and North Visalia, California; Liberty Hill, New Braunfels, and Forney, Texas; St. George, Utah; and a Business Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba. International expansion is happening too — a 200,000-plus-square-foot store in Monterrey, Mexico, will be the largest Costco warehouse in Latin America.
Costco’s First-Ever Standalone Gas Station
This one caught people off guard. Costco is building a standalone gas station — no warehouse attached — in Mission Viejo, California, set to open in spring 2026. It’ll have 40 pumps, and yes, you’ll still need a membership to pump.
Costco hasn’t officially confirmed plans for additional standalone stations beyond Mission Viejo. But given the company’s policy of not commenting on locations opening more than three months out, it would be strange if this were a one-off experiment. The gas stations have always been a huge membership draw — people will drive past three other gas stations to save 30 cents a gallon at Costco. Separating that from the warehouse itself is a logical move, especially in areas where building a full store isn’t feasible but demand for cheap gas is through the roof.
Scan-and-Go Is Finally Happening
Sam’s Club has offered scan-and-go for years — you scan items with your phone as you toss them in the cart, pay in the app, and walk out. Costco members have been begging for this, and it’s finally coming in 2026. Testing is already underway at select locations.
Here’s how it works: You scan items using the Costco app while you shop. When you’re done, you pay through the app. A QR code pops up confirming your purchase, and an employee scans it at the exit. No checkout line. No unloading your cart onto the belt. No awkwardly making small talk with the cashier while they judge your six jars of Nutella.
For people who don’t want to use the app — or who have massive carts — Costco has a second checkout innovation in the works. Employees will pre-scan items in your cart while you’re still waiting in line. By the time you reach the register, everything’s already scanned and you just pay. Early tests show this cuts checkout times by up to 20 percent. The company wants both systems active at all US locations by the end of 2026.
Food Court Crackdowns Are Going Nationwide
If you’ve been sneaking into the Costco food court without a membership — through the exit doors, tagging along with a friend, whatever your method was — that era is ending. Membership card scanners are being installed at touchscreen kiosks in food courts across the country. You scan your card, then you order. No card, no $1.50 hot dog.
Some locations rolled these out in late 2025, but 2026 is when it goes nationwide. The change will be most noticeable at stores with outdoor food court areas, where non-members have traditionally been able to walk up without passing through any entrance checkpoint.
There’s an upside for paying members, though. Executive Members can now earn their 2 percent cash back on food court purchases, just like regular grocery buys. Redditors in California — where the scanners showed up first — say the process is painless. You scan, you order, you eat. And the food courts are reportedly less packed now that freeloaders are out of the picture.
Employee Raises Are Pushing Wages Past $30 an Hour
Costco has always paid better than most retailers, and the 2026 raises continue that trend. As part of a three-year employee agreement that started in 2025, hourly workers are getting bumps of $0.50 to $1.00 per hour. Top-scale workers will see their rate rise to $31.90 per hour in 2026, with additional $1 annual increases going forward. Junior clerks and assistants get 50-cent bumps.
Beyond the hourly rate, Costco expanded vacation benefits for top-scale workers and gave new employees immediate access to time off. Not every retailer does that — most make you wait months before you can take a sick day without consequences. Some critics argue the raises don’t keep pace with inflation, which is fair. But compared to what Target, Walmart, or most grocery chains are paying, Costco’s hourly rate is in a different zip code.
Kirkland Signature Is Going Local
Kirkland Signature — Costco’s in-house brand that quietly dominates everything from vodka to olive oil — is getting a sourcing overhaul. The company is shifting production of Kirkland products closer to the areas where they’re sold. The goal is to reduce shipping costs and environmental impact while keeping prices as low as possible.
Costco is also expanding the Kirkland lineup — adding more of its own brand into stores. If you’ve ever compared a Kirkland product side by side with the name brand it’s allegedly knocking off, you already know the private label holds up. The local sourcing push could mean slightly different products depending on your region, but the real takeaway is that Costco is doubling down on the brand that makes them the most margin. Kirkland Signature generated something like $60 billion in revenue in recent years. Expect to see even more of it on shelves.
A Pharmacy Shakeup With a New Benefits Partner
Starting January 1, 2026, Costco Pharmacy is partnering with Navitus, a pharmacy benefit manager. If you’re not familiar with how PBMs work — and honestly, most people aren’t — they act as middlemen between insurance companies, pharmacies, and drug manufacturers. Navitus operates on a cost-plus pricing model, which in plain English means they add a transparent markup to the actual cost of the drug instead of hiding fees in complicated pricing structures.
For Costco members who fill prescriptions regularly, this could mean more straightforward pricing and fewer surprises at the counter. Costco’s pharmacy has always been one of the cheaper options — you don’t even need a membership to use it in most states — but this partnership signals they want to simplify the whole prescription experience.
New Food Items, Digital Cake Orders, and a Tighter Return Policy
A few smaller changes are stacking up that are worth mentioning together. First, new food items have been appearing in early 2026. Vacuum-sealed bags of precooked, flame-seared chipotle chicken in 2-pound kits. Kirkland Signature braised beef with mashed potatoes in split trays holding around 3 pounds of food. These are clearly aimed at the “I want a hot dinner but I’m not cooking” crowd, and Costco knows that crowd is growing.
The bakery is getting a digital cake ordering system. No more filling out paper forms and waiting 24 to 48 hours. You’ll be able to order custom cakes digitally — details on exactly how that works are still rolling out, but the paper form era is ending.
And then there’s the return policy tightening. Costco’s famously generous return policy — where people have returned TVs years after buying them and half-eaten birthday cakes — is getting some guardrails. Warehouses are now reviewing member return history to identify abuse. According to the National Retail Federation, retail returns totaled around $850 billion in 2025, with nearly 10 percent considered fraudulent. Costco isn’t eliminating its return policy, but if you’ve been the person returning a patio set every September after using it all summer, they’re watching now.
Between faster checkouts, more stores, membership crackdowns, and a pharmacy overhaul, 2026 is shaping up to be the most aggressive year of changes Costco has pushed in a long time. The company posted an 8.1 percent rise in net sales in 2025, and they’re clearly not interested in coasting on that. Whether you’re a die-hard member or someone who’s been on the fence about joining, the membership is about to look a lot different — and mostly in ways that justify the $65 annual fee.
