Costco has abruptly shut down its online marketplace, Costco Next.
Costco members used Costco Next to shop for discounted products directly from several dozen companies until the site shut down recently. Among the companies available through Costco Next were Anker Electronics, Priority Bicycles and Viking Culinary.
There are four Costco Wholesale stores in Palm Beach County. The stores are in Boca Raton, Lantana, Royal Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.
“Access to Costco Next store fronts is no longer available,” reads a message on the Costco Next site. “Please refer to the list below for contact information for vendors with active return policies. For eligible returns and warranty inquiries, contact the vendor directly.”
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The closure of the service apparently came without warning, according to media outlets and chatter on Reddit. Costco Next "suddenly shut down this week, without any announcement," reported the East Bay Times, a San Francisco Bay Area newspaper, on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Many members likely are just learning about the service amid reports of its demise. "Me learning about it on the day it disappeared might be part of the reason it's gone," posted one person in a Costco chat on Reddit.
What was Costco Next?
Costco hasn't released much information about the program. But Nino Garcia, assistant general merchandise manager for Costco Next, is quoted in an article on the Costco site, saying, “The Costco Next idea was born in 2016, but did not fully materialize until a few years later."
“There was a real learning curve as we developed the program, and there were a lot of refinements, from site improvements and product selection, to ensuring that every supplier understood the concept," Garcia said. "In the end, Costco’s goal will always be the same: offering our members quality goods at a great value.”
During the company's third-quarter 2025 earnings call on May 29, 2025, chief financial officer Gary Millerchip gave an update on the program, saying Costco Next sales during the three-month period ending May 11, 2025, equaled the program's total sales for the complete fiscal year 2022.
"We are excited about the pipeline of new vendors in development for future rollout," he said, according to a S&P Global Market Intelligence transcript of the call.
Costco did not immediately return a request for comment from USA TODAY about the Costco Next program.
Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider& msnider@usatoday.com.
Maya Washburn is a Trending News Reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Costco abruptly shuts down marketplace online service. What we know
