RELATED: Target Just Banned the Purchase of This One Thing at All Its Stores. In response to the rising national number of COVID cases, Costco has announced that it will keep offering special senior shopping hours for customers over the age of 60, anyone with disabilities, or anyone immunocompromised or vulnerable to the virus, USA Today first reported. The move comes just two weeks after the warehouse wholesaler announced that it would be ending the modified hours effective July 26. Now, Costco will instead drop the offerings from five days a week to two.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb “Instead of discontinuing, we’ll maintain hours for seniors Tuesdays and Thursdays until further notice,” Richard Galanti, Costco’s chief financial officer, told USA Today on July 19. Those looking to take advantage of the special hours will no longer have the option of shopping on all weekdays once the changes take effect on July 26. From then on, the new special operating hours will be offered from 9 to 10 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday of each week at most warehouses in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to Costco’s COVID-19 update webpage. The drop to two days a week marks a return to the first iteration of the special shopping hours policy that the company rolled out in March 2020 as the pandemic began to take hold. It wasn’t until May 2020, when most Costco locations resumed normal shopping hours overall, that the special hours were expanded to cover all five weekdays, USA Today reports. The company also points out on its COVID website that special senior shopping hours at certain locations will vary. The Iwilei, Hawaii location will still offer special hours on all weekdays from 8 to 9 a.m., while the Richmond, California location will also be open to seniors Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Other California locations have extra shopping days, too: the Culver City location is open for special operating hours 8 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday, and Los Angeles locations—such as Los Feliz, Northridge, Pacoima, Van Nuys, and Woodland Hills—will hold their special hours from 9 to 10 a.m. Sunday through Friday and 8:30 on Saturdays. The move to backpedal on its decision and keep special shopping hours comes after a series of changes that brought the warehouse retailer back towards normal operations. Nearly 170 U.S. Costco locations brought back food samples during the first week of June, and most of the remaining stores were expected to bring them back toward the end of the month, Costco CFO Richard Galanti told CNN in May. Food courts at most warehouses have also reopened after being shuttered for more than a year. But according to Costco’s update, “selection varies by location,” and seating may also be limited in some stores. RELATED: If You Bought This at Costco, Get Rid of It Immediately, FDA Says.
