New Costco hours take effect: What it means for members

Costco’s extended shopping hours for its most elite members are taking effect at all its membership clubs this week. 

The company began strictly enforcing its new policy on Monday, allowing executive members – its highest and most expensive membership tier – a private, hour-long shopping window during most mornings before the store opens to the rest of its members.

Under its new “Executive Member Shopping Hours” policy that began rolling out earlier this summer, more than 37 million shoppers with the $130-per-year membership will have between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on weekdays and Sundays to exclusively shop the aisles. They will have from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays.

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Gold Star and Business members will be able to start shopping at 10 a.m. on weekdays and on Sunday, and 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays. 

The company first revealed plans to introduce extra shopping time for executive members in June via social media. It also emailed executive members about the new benefit. 

Costco’s food courts, optical centers, pharmacies and other “ancillary departments will participate” in the “executive member shopping hours,” though its pharmacies will remain closed on Sundays, according to a Facebook post.

The company had 37.6 million paid executive memberships at the end of the third quarter.

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Retailers are attempting to capitalize on spending by their higher-earning customers. Costco is among several retail giants, as well as heavy hitters in the restaurant and travel space, that are increasingly tailoring their offerings to appeal to this type of clientele as the economy weighs on lower- and middle-income consumers.

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David Tinsley, senior economist for the Bank of America Institute, told FOX Business that Bank of America credit and debit card data shows that spending growth for higher- and middle-income households is outpacing that of lower-income households.

“When we look at the labor market, particularly wage growth, we see something similar – higher income wage growth outpacing lower-income households’ wage growth – and the gap is widening. So, short-term at least, this momentum will likely continue,” said Tinsley, adding that these divergences are likely playing a role in retailers’ strategies.