Costco customers frustrated by sneaky new bakery tactic

The warehouse grocer is switching up a popular item.

Apr 15, 2025 - 14:59

Costco customers frustrated by sneaky new bakery tactic

These days, there aren't many things Americans can agree on.

Whether it's our increasingly divisive political climate, various social media platforms acting more like echo chambers, or sports rivalries at all-time highs, it's hard for us get behind the same issue.

But if you were to wander into a Costco (COST) on any given Saturday and poll every shopper about their opinion of the massive wholesale grocer, you'd probably get a pretty unanimous sentiment.

Basically, they'd likely all tell you shopping there is pretty sweet.

And there are a lot of reasons Costco is so popular.

For one, the retailer is known for its low prices.

Costco buys most of its inventory in bulk, which allows it to negotiate lower prices from its vendors.

In turn, it sells most of its goods in bulk to customers, which affords them competitive pricing. And in the U.S., where more is almost always considered to be a good thing (at least when you're shopping), getting more for cheaper is a really good thing.

People shop in a Costco.
Image source: Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images

Costco keeps its members happy

It's not just the low prices that keep customers coming back.

Costco, which charges members about $65 annually to belong, also offers its private label Kirkland in stores.

More Costco:

Kirkland is considered by many to be one of the premier private labels; many customers laud the top quality of products like Kirkland vodka, olive oil, cheese, and pesto.

And Kirkland is a core part of Costco's business, too. By revenue, Kirkland is larger than Nike, United Airlines, and Coca-Cola.

Costco makes a bakery change

Every once and a while, though, Costco switches something up and upsets the apple cart.

For example, Costco used to sell its highly popular muffins in a massive double six-pack of jumbo-sized treats.

Customers would be prompted to buy two different packs of whatever muffins they wanted, for a grand total of $12.99.

Now, however, Costco is making a packaging change.

The supermarket is now selling a smaller eight-pack of muffins for $6.99 — and the muffins aren't as large. Plus, customers now have to purchase eight of the same flavor, instead of being able to mix and match.

Although Costco has said the change was impacted by customer feedback, many now complain they're spending more money for less food.

Additionally, Costco is changing up some of the flavors it's offering.

Several flavors are now going away, including:

Poppy seed
Blueberry
Vanilla chocolate chunk

Instead, Costco is replacing them with flavors like:

Butter pecan
Lemon raspberry

Some customers report the texture of the muffins changing along with the flavors, too.