Bizarro world: I went to Costco at 9 a.m. during new store hours and it was bliss

On a recent Saturday at 9 a.m., I went to Costco during its new earlier opening hours for Executive members.

What I was expecting was a slightly easier shopping experience. What astounded me was the warehouse was nearly completely void of people: I saw maybe two or three dozen other customers, opposed to several hundred jostling for space to maneuver the aisles.

And so began my step into the bizarro world: Rockstar parking. An employee pushing a 5-foot-wide dry mop through the aisles, unhindered by customers. So few people that several times I left my shopping cart unattended in the middle of the aisle so I could fetch items I’d forgotten in another section of the store. And no lines at the otherwise perpetually crowded weekend checkout lanes.

In 20 minutes, I was in and out with more than $300 worth of groceries. The experience was so strange that I couldn’t stop thinking about it the entire drive home.

This dramatic difference was prompted by a June 30 change at Costco’s 634 stores nationwide, including 13 in Oregon: New opening hours of 9 a.m. seven days a week. But the privilege is only reserved for the nearly half of customers with Executive memberships, which cost double what Gold Star and Business memberships do. For the extra cash, Executive members can now shop an hour earlier Sundays through Fridays and 30 minutes earlier on Saturdays than the rest of the chain’s members.

Other shoppers, too, were gleeful when I asked them about their impressions.

“This is a breeze,” said Jan Gibson, an Aloha resident. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t have to watch where I’m going.’”

“We got here five minutes after they opened, and we’re walking out 15 minutes later,” said Ryan McNamara of Beaverton.

“One errand done, already,” said a pleased Kate McNamara, Ryan’s wife. It was 9:20 a.m.

A Hawaiian couple visiting family in Beaverton used adjectives that aren’t normally associated with a warehouse club shopping experience: “beautiful” and “relaxing.”

Said another shopper, who bought an Executive membership the day before for $130, but got a promotional $40 store credit with the purchase: “I didn’t have to fight for a parking space.”

The cashier who rang up my purchases said every morning had been like this since the new Executive member hours went into effect. “But at 10 a.m., ‘Kaboom!’” he said, his hands mimicking an explosion in the air.

Though the Aloha Costco felt nearly empty at 9 a.m., an employee at the Tigard store told me there are slightly more customers there first thing on weekends. He estimated about 100 to 150 pass through the doors in the first half hour.

Also, although I didn’t see any free food samples the morning I visited the Aloha Costco, an employee at the Tigard Costco says the store offers samples starting at 9 a.m.

If this all sounds like one big free advertisement for Executive membership at Costco, I will point out that early access comes at a steeper price and may not be worth it for some customers. Standard Gold Star and Business members fork over $65 a year in annual dues. Executive members pay double that, $130, and also get extra benefits like 2% back on what they spend. The rebate is good on future store purchases.

All three classes of memberships went up $5 to $10 last September, a point of small irritation for some customers. But the number of people with memberships was still up about 7% year over year, according to Costco. And the Issaquah, Wash.-based chain notes it was the first membership price increase in seven years.

The early access hours have created some discontent among crowds of general members waiting to be allowed in. Some were not aware that the new hours only applied to Executive members. I saw a woman looking flustered at the entrance at 9 a.m. when she scanned her Gold Star membership card and an employee turned her away. The people in the line queuing to get in at 9:30 a.m. looked a bit anxious and bored.

It’s worth noting that the new hours mean the vast majority of stores open earlier than they used to. But for a select number of locations, including the Clackamas and Eugene locations, the switch-up amounts to later opening times for anyone who is not an Executive member. These stores used to open at 9 a.m. six to seven days a week for all members. Now, anyone who isn’t an Executive member has to wait until 9:30 a.m. or 10 a.m. to start shopping.

According to Costco Insider and other media reports, this is the case at some of the chain’s California stores, too.

Costco has more than 900 stores in more than a dozen countries and more than 76 million paid memberships.

They’re key to the corporation’s success: About 65% of the chain’s roughly $7.4 billion in annual profit comes from memberships, according to figures published in the company’s annual report.

Bottomline, the more expensive Executive memberships net the company more cash. About 46% of members worldwide pay for the higher level membership. They also buy more — accounting for 73% of overall sales.

So it’s no surprise the company lists growing memberships — and especially Executive memberships — as a fundamental tenet in its annual report.

And one way Costco clearly hopes to do that is through an additional perk: The luxury of shopping early.

— Reporter Aimee Green covers Politics, personal finance and issues that matter to consumers. She can be reached at 503-294-5119, agreen@oregonian.com or on Bluesky.