Costco pilots curbside pickup in New Mexico

Costco is following in the footsteps of competing warehouse club chains with an Instacart-supported curbside effort.

The leading warehouse club retailer now offers curbside pickup at its three stores in Albuquerque. Major competitor BJ’s Wholesale began offering contactless, curbside pickup at all stores in August 2020, and fellow top rival Sam’s Club expanded contactless curbside pickup to all of its locations in June 2020. 

To utilize Costco’s curbside pickup service, customers visit the Costco.com website and select grocery, select same-day delivery and pickup, select a store, and then shop. Curbside shoppers receive a one-hour pickup window and can park in a dedicated pickup space. Costco will send order status updates and pickup instructions via text message. 

Customers notify the store they have arrived via text message, and store employees prepare the orders and deliver them to customer cars. Each pickup order has a $10 fee, with $100 order minimum, and only Costco members can use the service. About 2,000 grocery items, priced the same as in store, are available for curbside pickup. 

Costco is offering same-day pickup based on Instacart technology. The curbside pickup cart is separate from the standard Costco.com cart, and curbside pickup customers must check their orders out separately from their Costco.com cart. The retailer is leveraging Instacart to support curbside in three pilot stores following the rollout of same-day delivery with Instacart at stores in both the U.S. and Canada in 2020.