The Absolute Best Days To Shop At Costco To Avoid Crowds

You're in the middle of Costco on a Friday night. The store is packed and we don't mean that there's a couple of people milling around in the aisles. We're talking about the store is absolutely swarming with people. Did everyone have the same bright idea to go shop at this Costco at this particular time? You don't know and or have time to think about it, considering that you're pushing your way through a crowd of shoppers. The food court's packed to capacity, and they've already run out of pretzels and pizza, with rumors that the beloved $1.50 hot dog and soda combo will be gone soon too. It's a free-for-all, with big bulk purchases being the heavyweight prize.

It's no secret that Costco is a popular place to shop, having 2.3 million sales transactions a day in 2015 alone, with 100 million people being card-carrying members (via Costco's). With so many customers and members, to say that the store can get pretty crowded would be an understatement. The stores get so crowded sometimes that peoples' patience begins to drop as low as Costco's bulk prices and fights can occur, such was the case of two patrons fighting over cakes at a store in Texas (via KTSM News). How can you avoid these crowds and shop in peace?

Perhaps it's not a matter of survival of the fittest when you venture to Costco, but instead a matter of choosing the right time to shop. According to Yahoo! Finance, the best time to shop at Costco is between Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The reason for this is because you avoid the afternoon "lunch rush" of customers, giving yourself just a small moment of time to shop before the evening rush comes in. Other good times for a lull in activity include going right as the store opens (or at least an hour or so after) and an hour or two before the store closes. This gives you plenty of space to browse and shop at your leisure (per Yahoo! Finance).

If you're not so worried about the amount of people as you are about time, there's actually another trick you can to do to get yourself through even a crowded checkout line without wasting too much time. According to one Reddit user, you should stack all the items in the cart with all of their barcodes exposed, making it easier for the cashier to scan the items rather than fumbling with each product to find the barcode.

Of course, you may just be a people person and enjoy the company of other patrons while you shop. Just so long as you're not getting into any fights over checkout lines or products on shelves, you're free to shop however you like.