Whether you have a busy day ahead or are frantically looking for an ingredient to make a recipe at home, shoppers with Costco memberships may be able to sneak into stores before the actual opening hour arrives. Costco is known for comparatively later opening hours, as many of the stores don’t open until 10 am. It is an intentional move, both to boost employee morale and save the company some operational money.
While store hours can vary — it is up to the general manager to decide, and some stores choose to adjust normal operating hours to accommodate holiday shoppers — what is lesser known is that customers can walk into the store 15 minutes before opening. This soft opening, also referred to as Showtime Ready, means that the Costco team is ready to welcome guests and operate fully before the actual opening time, so that those packages of rotisserie chicken you had your heart set on are ready to pick up and take home.
An orchestrated team effort
The window of time before customers arrive can be frenetic, as employees stock shelves, food samplers set up tasting stations, and pallets are moved to create order within the store. Costo team members have to deal with shipments that arrive on trucks and get each item into the right department. What Costco might lack in decor (the aesthetic sparsity helps keep prices of products low for members), the stores make up for with cleanliness, order, and organization.
Scheduled shifts can start as early as 4 am for employees, but the various stocking tasks can be split between crews who are scheduled for morning hours and night shifts. The team effort is a strategic, methodical movement to get the store looking pristine and orderly before the first Costco shopper walks in. Spills and items found in disarray can be cleaned up and straightened out in as little as two minutes, so Costco members have a neat environment to peruse as they fill their shopping carts with dinner rolls and pantry staples, regardless of the time you visit the store.
