Costco Shoppers Are Feeling Nostalgic About These Discontinued Muffins
Many shoppers love Costco — it's one of the most popular grocery retailers, ranking at number five on the list of the top 50 global retailers for 2021, according to the National Retail Federation. Costco members know that the temptation of the bakery section in particular is real, and possibly the whole reason to swing by in the first place. Packed with literally hundreds of store-specific products and with secret hacks to know, the bakery offers tiramisu sheet cakes for $16.99 and muffins and croissants that can be frozen and enjoyed later.
Many of Costco's bakery products have intense fan followings. Devotees of particular products are fiercely loyal to the brand's treats, like the favorite cheesecake that some Redditors love enough to refuse sharing the 16-serving cake. But unfortunately, some of those products are seasonal or have been discontinued, like the All-American Chocolate Cake whose absence has disappointed shoppers. And, as confirmed by Eat This Not That!, the classic muffin variety pack has been another casualty of downsizing recently, resulting in changes to inventory at many Costco locations.
Even the individual muffin flavors have been hard to find
The muffin variety pack (with chocolate, blueberry, and poppyseed options) used to be a staple of Costco's bakery section, but the appearance of even just the individual flavors has become more sporadic. It seems some locations still might carry certain kinds, but the original variety pack in that classic cardboard tray that we all remember from back in the day may be gone for good. The Costco Business Delivery website does show three flavors of the muffins in stock in individually-wrapped packaging, but they don't appear to be available on the regular Costco website.
As any lover of baked goods would understand, many are understandably upset about the development. Some muffin fans remember the original variety pack fondly, like one Reddit user who posted a picture of the original packaging, calling it "retro style," for fans in the thread to reminisce over. Likeminded fans of the Costco muffins sounded off in the comments section, sharing their nostalgic experiences eating them. One commenter loved these muffins so much as a kid they said, "I'd sneak a second one for breakfast. And probably have another two muffins before bed." Another person added, "As a teenager, I would kill two of those as a snack and three as a meal." One diehard fan even made a Change.org petition to bring back the discontinued lemon poppyseed muffins. (The current poppyseed option, if you can even find it, is an almond poppyseed variant instead of lemon flavor.) Here's to hoping the attention encourages Costco to bring them back!