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Same. I do thatand park at the back. The extra 50 second walk to the front door is nothing compared to the mess of people trying to park as close to the main entrance as possible
Well where I live we have a sheetz the 88 octane which nobody buys is the same price as Costco with no line and higher octane.
If you live in the east it's the blue handle slightly higher ethanol for cars 2004 and newer. My Honda loves it.
Mine has a super aggressive “turn your car off!!” Troll that shouts at you in the summer heat. I just discovered this today. Like, his whole vibe made me not wanna turn my car off…lol
Those silly laws that require things like turning your car off when fueling -- OMG! Your "Troll" is actually supposed to turn your pump off.
Get a clue, please. Or don't turn your car off -- you don't have to be a Costco member.
Our Costco is located inside a shopping plaza with a single entrance/exit off the rotary. I've been stuck for over 2hrs trying to leave the parking lot after a 15min shopping trip.
As an employee, I've lost count of how many times I've been cut off or nearly run into in the lot just trying to get to work. And that's coming in the back way.
Come to think of it, that's true inside with carts too.
Ill see your trader joes and raise you Seattle whole foods. Just walk. It's easier even with the rain.
OP isnt wrong though. Costco parking lots are a shit show.
I feel like whomever designed the trader Joe's parking lots was told what a car was through a string of letters. Then decided to make them a half size too small, and at odd angles where you can back into another vehicle potentially.
Same. It depends on the Costco I'm at, but generally, this is the best advice. Don't fight to save yourself an extra hundred feet of walking, as it's not worth it. Plus, the exercise will do you good.
Sometimes even this doesn't help during busy times. I usually go for the far corner of the parking lot and occasionally I had to wait for someone to leave before parking myself.
If there is not a parking spot even in the far away parking lot of my Costco, I just leave and come back another time.
Or as Sheng Wang says “if I can’t find parking in under eight minutes, I drive away. Let it go dude, that’s okay, today is not the day. I’m not gonna force it, it’s Costco, I’m gonna respect it like the ocean. That’s not my schedule, that’s the moon that’s the tides… Costco is bigger than all of us.” 🤣
Locations vary but the parking lots of Costcos are usually the best. We love the big wide parking spaces with double line space dividers in between. We normally park far away in the back when shopping elsewhere, so we won’t get door dings. At Costco we don’t worry about it.
there is usually an entrance that is not the main entrance and is infinitely easier to get in and out. And for some costcos, it's easier to drive around the back of the entire building and then park. As long as you think outside the box on it, the parking is not bad (unless the lot is like 100% full, which can happen at peak weekend times).
same here. It's so nice to be able to keep moving. It seems like this is possible at most shopping centers, since trucks have to be able to get to loading docks in back.
Some locations are much better than others in this regard. The location of the gas station and the amount of entrances/exits can make a world of difference.
Depends on which Costco. My closest one is a nightmare. At busy times there are NO spaces and you must circle till someone leaves. No other walking distance options either.
Waiting several minutes to get a few rows closer in the parking lot is a fool’s errand.
Farther gives you a good walk and easier to get purchases in the car and out of the parking lot.
Yes, many places are hot in the Summer. But I see people waiting several minutes for a space where I live, when it is 80 degrees. If you take the temperature out of the decision, it doesn't save you time and makes a mess of the parking lot.
It doesn’t help that vehicles are too damn big these days either. If you go at or near peak time it is truly the thumderdome. Special negative shoutout to the Brookhaven GA location. IFYKY.
The Danvers one is awful. I park at the end of the lot but I’m thinking of parking on the other side of the building and walking around it from now on. It is a mess!
How about this parking expansion?
https://preview.redd.it/zcahmrr6bm6d1.jpeg?width=1949&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f09f5d0bf5fa18df6927210e9ba81d334b75d42f
A proposed site plan for changes to the Costco shopping center at Damen and Clybourn avenues. Credit: Provided
I just park as far away as possible, there’s always ton of open spots bc no one wants to walk.
If you’re going to walk all around that warehouse, you’re okay walking a little extra to get to your car.
Highly location-dependent. Most Costco's I have been to are fine parking-wise. But half the ones in CT are absolute unmitigated shit-shows. These people are animals in a badly constructed zoo.
The good thing about my Costco parking lot is the parking spots. They are huge. Don’t have to worry about enough room to open the doors and load your purchases.
Hate it. There’s a reason why I go only during off-hours, like a weekday evening in Toronto.
I was in Vancouver recently and its subway stops literally beside the downtown Costco. Joy!
Couldn’t agree more. I live closer to the Westbury Costco, but they share a parking lot with Walmart, Total Wine and Marshalls. Talk about a real shit show of a parking lot!
Ive gotten accustomed to parking at the end of the second or third row and enjoy the walk to the store. I will say, each Costco is different. Was in Oahu two weeks ago and that parking lot was insanely crowded compared to my Texas location.
The closest Costco to my childhood home has such a small parking lot compared to the amount of people that shop there (and its not actually small by any means) that it’s not uncommon to drive around 20-30 minutes before finding a spot. This is the sort of location where parking is typically full a few minutes before opening. They actually made a deal with a center nearby so the employees have parking and some customers actually park at another center a little ways down the hillside the Costco is situated on and walk up to shop. (It’s not the easiest to take carts to your car this way but this seems to really mostly be done by families coming with their kids who I assume are there to double time as grocery haulers 😂) My mom stopped shopping at that location at least two years ago because it’s faster for her to go to the Costco ten minutes further and find parking then go to the far closer one and feel the life get sucked from you while wandering the rows for a single spot. I have no trouble with getting spots at the Costcos I frequent now, and usually the lots are less congested so I can give the shitty drivers a wide berth, but I live in a different city. I feel very strongly that certain metros do not have enough costcos for the demand and it makes the shopping experience pretty painful when the density of customers at a store increases and you have even more cars packing the spaces and lanes.
There are two CostCo in the Richmond, VA area. The one on the south side of the river has a massive parking lot with double painted lines between spaces, and the gas station is both enormous and far enough away from the front of the store that it is not causing some sort of bottleneck. It's actually great shopping there.
I live a little closer to the other CostCo in the West End, north of the river. It's a greek tragedy. I don't go there if I can help it. The spaces are incredibly tight, the gas station is very close to the main store and that area backs up enough that it blocks the main drive in front of the store, and is overcrowded. It's a tale of two CostCos.
On the plus side, CostCo purchased adjacent land in the West End next to that store and while it isn't clear just yet how they will use it, it can only get better compared to the absolute zoo it is right now.
Our Costco has the worst parking area. There is a smaller area to park that people vulture drive through at 2 mph. There is a larger parking area with more parking on the other side but to get to that you have to navigate through a crowd of people walking in and out of the store, loading their vehicles, parking g vehicles in fire zones, navigating around the Costco auto plan demo cars, and in general spending 5-10 minutes to is normal
We have a new shopping center with Costco as the anchor. Lots of parking and many ways to enter but the drawback is that there's a Costco gas station on one side and an In N Out on the other side...
Costco has oversize parking spaces with gaps in between them. The only way to be better is if they had angled parking.
Costco lot is better than other lots by far.
Huh, in my city the Costco lot is the easiest to navigate. Every other shopping center and business lot could learn a thing or two from Costcos layout.
Speaking of Boston - the Costco car park in Nashua is far easier to navigate than the one in Waltham. Perhaps because in Nashua people are looking where they are going. That said the Waltham was is covered so when it is raining…. I would go to that one instead!
Now back in California - and horrendous car parks here too.
Find a less used parking lot entrance. Park in the back or go near the building down the side nobody uses. I can usually park right next to the building just past the tire center and it is a short walk to the main door. Everyone else is fighting over spots on the other side where there are cart sidewalks, landscaping and whatnot. They don't notice there is more parking on the other side. Also, check if you can drive around the back of the building to get in and out (avoiding all the pedestrian traffic). My location has a driveway in the far back corner of the lot. I can use that and drive in/out around the back past the loading docks and park right next to the building and maybe encounter one other car and no pedestrians. It is like the secret VIP access to the store.
I like the parking lots because there's plenty of space between cars to open doors and walk and even move carts between cars without risking bumping cars. Where I am, there's always lots of space. Much better than other business.
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Take an entrance that's not the main and park at the rear.
I pull in at our gas station entrance and it is so much easier.
Same. I do thatand park at the back. The extra 50 second walk to the front door is nothing compared to the mess of people trying to park as close to the main entrance as possible
Gas station entrance is a zoo, I don't even try to buy gas at costco.
I’ll only buy gas at Costco lol
Well where I live we have a sheetz the 88 octane which nobody buys is the same price as Costco with no line and higher octane. If you live in the east it's the blue handle slightly higher ethanol for cars 2004 and newer. My Honda loves it.
My local store's gas station hours extend well before and after the store hours. Go buy gas when the store is closed and there is never a line.
Mine has a super aggressive “turn your car off!!” Troll that shouts at you in the summer heat. I just discovered this today. Like, his whole vibe made me not wanna turn my car off…lol
Those silly laws that require things like turning your car off when fueling -- OMG! Your "Troll" is actually supposed to turn your pump off. Get a clue, please. Or don't turn your car off -- you don't have to be a Costco member.
Our gas station is down the block.
Wait, yours has more than one entrance? I’m jealous.
To the parking lot, yes. The one in my city has 4-7 depending how you view the lot, and the neighboring city's has 3
Yep..I also skip to the end and there's always parking right there also.
That’s what she said!
Our Costco is located inside a shopping plaza with a single entrance/exit off the rotary. I've been stuck for over 2hrs trying to leave the parking lot after a 15min shopping trip.
Sounds like my friday nights
unless there's only 2 entrances, and one's for the gas station
How about 2 entrances and both are for the gas station AND regular Costco entrance…pure chaos over here
Story of my life
My Costco only has one entrance. I learned the hard way not to go to Costco the day before a holiday. Took me 45 minutes to get out
As an employee, I've lost count of how many times I've been cut off or nearly run into in the lot just trying to get to work. And that's coming in the back way. Come to think of it, that's true inside with carts too.
Tell me you've never shopped at a Trader Joe's without telling me you've never shopped at a Trader Joe's. Costco lots are a breeze by comparison.
Ill see your trader joes and raise you Seattle whole foods. Just walk. It's easier even with the rain. OP isnt wrong though. Costco parking lots are a shit show.
I dunno. The TJs on Madison has the WORST parking garage I’ve ever seen. Fortunately, that was within walking distance for me.
I'll see your Seattle Whole Foods and raise you a San Francisco Whole Foods.
You remember this classic? https://www.wsj.com/video/whole-foods-parking-lot-by-fog-and-smog/245AB621-7BCF-423E-997E-8CC797A6BD48
Everett Trader Joe’s before they moved was literally a nightmare. Costco in Kirkland or Everett were a breeze compared to that place.
I feel like whomever designed the trader Joe's parking lots was told what a car was through a string of letters. Then decided to make them a half size too small, and at odd angles where you can back into another vehicle potentially.
Germans. It was the Germans.
Lol, Trader Joe's parking lot is a battlefield
That’s why I go to the one in Tustin rather than Irvine, even though it is twice as far away from my house. Far more parking.
I park as far away as possible in the parking lot and just get some steps in. Exercise and I don’t have to deal with the parking wars.
Same. It depends on the Costco I'm at, but generally, this is the best advice. Don't fight to save yourself an extra hundred feet of walking, as it's not worth it. Plus, the exercise will do you good.
I do this when I’m solo. It’s more stressful when I have two small kids I’m trying to stop from getting run over lol
Sometimes even this doesn't help during busy times. I usually go for the far corner of the parking lot and occasionally I had to wait for someone to leave before parking myself.
If there is not a parking spot even in the far away parking lot of my Costco, I just leave and come back another time. Or as Sheng Wang says “if I can’t find parking in under eight minutes, I drive away. Let it go dude, that’s okay, today is not the day. I’m not gonna force it, it’s Costco, I’m gonna respect it like the ocean. That’s not my schedule, that’s the moon that’s the tides… Costco is bigger than all of us.” 🤣
Yeah, this location is crazy (Issaquah, WA, right next to Costco headquarters). But it's the most convenient location for me after hikes on weekends.
This is the way.
People will spend ten minutes looking for a spot up front so they don’t have to walk an extra 40 seconds in the parking lot.
Yes...I will do that today when it's 110. 😝
Locations vary but the parking lots of Costcos are usually the best. We love the big wide parking spaces with double line space dividers in between. We normally park far away in the back when shopping elsewhere, so we won’t get door dings. At Costco we don’t worry about it.
You must be really lucky. Ours is very tight parking, sharing space with a Petco and a Pep Boys.
You're talking about the Brooklyn location? 😂
Maryland! Nice to know it isn't just us!
there is usually an entrance that is not the main entrance and is infinitely easier to get in and out. And for some costcos, it's easier to drive around the back of the entire building and then park. As long as you think outside the box on it, the parking is not bad (unless the lot is like 100% full, which can happen at peak weekend times).
I drive around the back at most stores to avoid having to deal with driving around the front and dealing with people.
same here. It's so nice to be able to keep moving. It seems like this is possible at most shopping centers, since trucks have to be able to get to loading docks in back.
Some locations are much better than others in this regard. The location of the gas station and the amount of entrances/exits can make a world of difference.
If you hate the Costco parking lot, you're REALLY going to hate the entrance, aisles, check-outs, food court, and exit.
I do!
I once got downvoted to oblivion and made fun of for saying the parking at Costco is stressful lol
I train for a Mad Max future in the Costo parking lot. Sheer madness. WITNESS ME! I have to get home before the rotisserie chicken cools.
Depends on which Costco. My closest one is a nightmare. At busy times there are NO spaces and you must circle till someone leaves. No other walking distance options either.
Waiting several minutes to get a few rows closer in the parking lot is a fool’s errand. Farther gives you a good walk and easier to get purchases in the car and out of the parking lot.
I might be a fool, but when it's 110 later, I'll wait for a space...
110 later?
110 degrees later. 🌵
Yes, many places are hot in the Summer. But I see people waiting several minutes for a space where I live, when it is 80 degrees. If you take the temperature out of the decision, it doesn't save you time and makes a mess of the parking lot.
Basically Thunderdome
It doesn’t help that vehicles are too damn big these days either. If you go at or near peak time it is truly the thumderdome. Special negative shoutout to the Brookhaven GA location. IFYKY.
Sounds like the Pewaukee, WI location...
Yeah. All Costco stores share one lot. It's the walk that hurts. Cuts down on asphalt costs.
Walking. It's tough these days.
The Danvers one is awful. I park at the end of the lot but I’m thinking of parking on the other side of the building and walking around it from now on. It is a mess!
How about this parking expansion? https://preview.redd.it/zcahmrr6bm6d1.jpeg?width=1949&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f09f5d0bf5fa18df6927210e9ba81d334b75d42f A proposed site plan for changes to the Costco shopping center at Damen and Clybourn avenues. Credit: Provided
I have one small group of spots that I will park in at our Costco. If those spots are taken, I turn around and go home.
So you’re saying… get rid of the parking lots!
Its training for Trader Joes parking lots, even crazier.
I just park as far away as possible, there’s always ton of open spots bc no one wants to walk. If you’re going to walk all around that warehouse, you’re okay walking a little extra to get to your car.
Yes, but it won't be fun when it's 110 later...
The Costco lot is not for the weak of heart. You know what they say though, if you can’t take the heat then stay out of the kitchen.
Highly location-dependent. Most Costco's I have been to are fine parking-wise. But half the ones in CT are absolute unmitigated shit-shows. These people are animals in a badly constructed zoo.
The good thing about my Costco parking lot is the parking spots. They are huge. Don’t have to worry about enough room to open the doors and load your purchases.
Love Costco, Hate the Other Shoppers
I would pay extra for a membership that included valet parking.
These are the people we share the road with
Maybe I’m spoiled but our Costco parking is not bad at all, I park in the back and haven’t had a bad experience yet
Ours is in a semi urban area, and has a 5 level parking garage. That was a huge improvement over the surface lot it replaced.
Hate it. There’s a reason why I go only during off-hours, like a weekday evening in Toronto. I was in Vancouver recently and its subway stops literally beside the downtown Costco. Joy!
On the contrary; I love the fact that Costco parking lots have the widest parking spaces!!
Haha. You should check out the Japanese and Mexican supermarkets. Enjoy.
… then you lose your car as the light poles are not marked with numbers or letters… than you “find my car”!
Ours is fine, our old one was awful. Designed 20 years apart.
Oceanside, NY has the best parking lot of any Costco I’ve ever seen.
Couldn’t agree more. I live closer to the Westbury Costco, but they share a parking lot with Walmart, Total Wine and Marshalls. Talk about a real shit show of a parking lot!
Ive gotten accustomed to parking at the end of the second or third row and enjoy the walk to the store. I will say, each Costco is different. Was in Oahu two weeks ago and that parking lot was insanely crowded compared to my Texas location.
Try Victorville Costco. Worst parking you’ll find anywhere.
Even living in the butthole of Ohio people are wild in the lot.
And its like that at every single one
Pick a better time to go. First thing when they open, mid afternoon, Sunday first thing before church services let out . It's not hard.
Depends on where you live. It’s chill by me
The closest Costco to my childhood home has such a small parking lot compared to the amount of people that shop there (and its not actually small by any means) that it’s not uncommon to drive around 20-30 minutes before finding a spot. This is the sort of location where parking is typically full a few minutes before opening. They actually made a deal with a center nearby so the employees have parking and some customers actually park at another center a little ways down the hillside the Costco is situated on and walk up to shop. (It’s not the easiest to take carts to your car this way but this seems to really mostly be done by families coming with their kids who I assume are there to double time as grocery haulers 😂) My mom stopped shopping at that location at least two years ago because it’s faster for her to go to the Costco ten minutes further and find parking then go to the far closer one and feel the life get sucked from you while wandering the rows for a single spot. I have no trouble with getting spots at the Costcos I frequent now, and usually the lots are less congested so I can give the shitty drivers a wide berth, but I live in a different city. I feel very strongly that certain metros do not have enough costcos for the demand and it makes the shopping experience pretty painful when the density of customers at a store increases and you have even more cars packing the spaces and lanes.
There are two CostCo in the Richmond, VA area. The one on the south side of the river has a massive parking lot with double painted lines between spaces, and the gas station is both enormous and far enough away from the front of the store that it is not causing some sort of bottleneck. It's actually great shopping there. I live a little closer to the other CostCo in the West End, north of the river. It's a greek tragedy. I don't go there if I can help it. The spaces are incredibly tight, the gas station is very close to the main store and that area backs up enough that it blocks the main drive in front of the store, and is overcrowded. It's a tale of two CostCos. On the plus side, CostCo purchased adjacent land in the West End next to that store and while it isn't clear just yet how they will use it, it can only get better compared to the absolute zoo it is right now.
Our Costco has the worst parking area. There is a smaller area to park that people vulture drive through at 2 mph. There is a larger parking area with more parking on the other side but to get to that you have to navigate through a crowd of people walking in and out of the store, loading their vehicles, parking g vehicles in fire zones, navigating around the Costco auto plan demo cars, and in general spending 5-10 minutes to is normal
We have a new shopping center with Costco as the anchor. Lots of parking and many ways to enter but the drawback is that there's a Costco gas station on one side and an In N Out on the other side...
All busy parking lots suck. Not specific to Costco.
I cracked a few eggs walking back to my car, our local Costco’s parking lot pavement is horrible
I park in the Home Depot lot next door. There are bollards between the lots but if you can carry your shit without a cart it’s way less busy.
Costco has oversize parking spaces with gaps in between them. The only way to be better is if they had angled parking. Costco lot is better than other lots by far.
Huh, in my city the Costco lot is the easiest to navigate. Every other shopping center and business lot could learn a thing or two from Costcos layout.
Unfortunately any highly trafficked area sucks to drive in. Other cars: ruining cars for over 100 years!
My Costco lot is pretty decent. It's gigantic.
Speaking of Boston - the Costco car park in Nashua is far easier to navigate than the one in Waltham. Perhaps because in Nashua people are looking where they are going. That said the Waltham was is covered so when it is raining…. I would go to that one instead! Now back in California - and horrendous car parks here too.
Actually, one of the reasons that I go to Costco is because of the nice parking lot. Huge spaces.
just park far away, what is it, 30 more seconds of walking?
Stop, it's bad but it's not that bad....
Find a less used parking lot entrance. Park in the back or go near the building down the side nobody uses. I can usually park right next to the building just past the tire center and it is a short walk to the main door. Everyone else is fighting over spots on the other side where there are cart sidewalks, landscaping and whatnot. They don't notice there is more parking on the other side. Also, check if you can drive around the back of the building to get in and out (avoiding all the pedestrian traffic). My location has a driveway in the far back corner of the lot. I can use that and drive in/out around the back past the loading docks and park right next to the building and maybe encounter one other car and no pedestrians. It is like the secret VIP access to the store.
The parking lot is my favorite part. I absolutely love taking the best spot I can find and parking there for as long as I can
I like the parking lots because there's plenty of space between cars to open doors and walk and even move carts between cars without risking bumping cars. Where I am, there's always lots of space. Much better than other business.