Costco's unexpected new role in Americans' love lives: 'Secret sauce is the sampling'
From "Camp Costco" veterans meetups to food court date nights, the warehouse club is where Americans are building unexpected social connections.
As more of life moves online, people are finding an in-person connection somewhere unexpected: the aisles and food court of their local Costco.
The membership warehouse club — known for its bulk grocery items and huge packs of home supplies — has joined the likes of bars, churches and parks as a public spot where people socialize, make friends and may spark or renew romance.
Costco has become what sociologists call a "third place," a communal gathering spot where people build community outside their home and work environments, USA Today reported.
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"Costco has turned shopping into an experience, not just an errand," Phil Lempert, a consumer and trend analyst known as the "SupermarketGuru," told Fox News Digital. "You go in for paper towels and walk out having sampled food, discovered something unexpected and maybe bumped into someone you know. Their secret sauce is the sampling."
University of California, Davis students Sharon Hwang, Katrina Le and Steven Zhang organize a group of fellow students for a trip to their local Costco for a food-court meal once or twice a quarter, USA Today reported.
"If something small like a Costco trip can help someone meet new friends or feel a little bit connected, then I feel like we accomplished something," Hwang told the publication.
Friends and social media influencers Analyse Talavera and Carmen Rene Smith have traded costly dinner catchups for Costco errand runs.
"Especially in this economy, instead of going out and dropping $200 on dinner — which Analyse and I are good for — we go to Costco and stock up on meal prep for the week and then top it off with a $3 fro yo," Smith told USA Today.
More than 25 years after two military veterans began meeting at their neighborhood Costco in Brentwood, Tennessee, for a Friday hot dog, the Middle Tennessee Veterans Support Group — "Camp Costco" — is still going strong, now supporting a couple of hundred service members across generations.
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"Nobody cares what rank you were or what service you were in," Marine veteran and group member Paul Napoli told USA Today. "Everybody mixes together."
Some couples use their shopping trips as a substitute for date night, dubbing it "clubbing for married folks" or "the Kirkland Signature date night," after Costco's in-house brand.
Still others use the store to find love, and some couples have chosen Costco as the venue for their nuptials, according to Reddit posts.
It can also be a fun place to explore, Lempert said.
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"Costco creates a kind of retail ritual: the treasure hunt, the samples, the food court, the great deal you want to tell somebody about," he said. "Consumers aren't just buying products. They're sharing an experience — and that's incredibly powerful in an increasingly digital and isolated shopping world."
The appetite for that experience comes as in-person connection erodes elsewhere. Americans now spend about 35 minutes a day socializing, down from 45 minutes 20 years ago, and only 30% do any face-to-face socializing on a given day, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey.
The surgeon general's 2023 advisory found roughly half of adults experience loneliness, and the Survey Center on American Life reports 44% have nowhere in their community to go regularly.
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Costco shoppers, by contrast, are loyal — averaging 31 trips to the warehouse annually, according to consumer analytics firm Numerator.
They also make the food court a regular habit, spending in line with what they spend at major regional fast-food chains, including In-N-Out.
The membership model further creates a social aspect and sense of belonging, Lempert said.
"Membership changes the psychology of shopping — it makes one feel special," he said. "You’re not simply a customer walking into a store; you're a member of a club. Costco has essentially made the membership card part of the consumer's identity."