Key Points
Books are back at Costco for the holiday season.
Year-round book sales ended in 2025 due to stocking costs.
Customers cheer the return of books seasonally, though some stores never lost them.
As the seasons begin to change, two things are certain: cooler weather and seasonal holiday finds at Costco. This year, there’s an especially exciting addition to the warehouse club’s holiday lineup—the return of books.
That’s right, books are back at Costco for a limited time.
The exciting news began circulating online earlier this summer and was confirmed by several Costco-centered Instagram accounts.
“It’s back through the end of the year! Costco’s books and gifts section is here,” one account captioned a video showcasing the beloved book section in Costco. (Southern Living confirmed the return of books in our Birmingham, Alabama-area store, too.) “No need to wait till the holidays! With novels, cookbooks, advent calendars, kids books/stickers and more, they’re something for everyone!”
The news was met with cheers from fans who enjoy buying their books while shopping at the warehouse.
“I wish they would keep books around all the time!!” one user wrote.
Another added, “Books are awesome. I’ve missed them at Costco. Books were always one of my very favorite sections of the store.”
Others seem confused as their personal Costco had never removed the book section.
“My Costco has books all the time,” one comment read.
Another user wrote, “Books never left our costco…LOL.”
When Did Costco Stop Stocking Books?
Costco halted year-round book sales in early 2025 citing logistics issues, according to a report from the New York Times, in favor of only stocking books during holiday months. The report stated that books are much more difficult to stock than the pallets Costco uses for other products. Instead, books must be stocked on display tables by hand, which is more costly in employee hours, and each week, unsold books have to be removed from the tables and swapped for newer releases.
The news was, understandably, upsetting and customers took to Reddit to express their displeasure in the new policy.
“I buy books [at Costco] every couple of weeks at minimum. They don’t always have the best titles but they usually have new releases that I want to read,” one customer wrote.
Another said, “My local Costco used to have a full aisle of books. It was reduced to 1/4 of an aisle a few years back. I’m very disappointed that they plan on doing away with them entirety, but I’m not really surprised.”
Read the original article on Southern Living