Costco recently announced that they would stop selling books year-round starting in 2025. Instead, they will only be sold from September to December, during the Holiday season.
This change comes to a shock to customers who are accustomed to being welcomed by a display of novels. Anyone who has set foot in the megastore can recall the tables, covered in stacks of the latest releases, found between electronics and clothing.
Annabelle Hazard ’27, the Head Editor and President for Riordan’s literary magazine The Grail, reflected, “I’m pretty disappointed because I know growing up for for me, Costco was a great way to explore new genres … since books at Costco are usually discounted, it made me less afraid to try out new genres or different levels of reading I hadn’t tried yet.”
In the past decade, interest in physical books has wavered as there has been a rise in audiobooks and ebooks. Reading is now easier than ever before, but social media and other business are also taking up more time.
Jennifer Parker, the Head of the Book Club also made the claim that people simply cannot find the time for reading, saying, “Unfortunately, reading for pleasure has become not as common, I think, with a lot of people because we’re so busy.”
At the same time, others have stated that interest in reading is still holding strong.
Daniel Appel, who has been the school librarian for eleven years said that the idea of students not wanting to read has been “overplayed” and that “people still want to be able to hold a book, turn the pages, and have the tactile experience.”
While readers will no longer have their favorite authors in Costco, both Parker and Appel stressed the importance of local bookstores and the public library.
Riordan coordinates with BookShop West Portal to carry all the required reading for its students. Green Apple Books is another local bookstore which has been in San Francisco since 1967.
The Ingleside Branch of the San Francisco Public Library is a great resource for Crusaders as it is just a five-minute walk away from campus.
As Costco turns to only selling books during the Holiday season, readers must turn to other distributors to satisfy their passion.
Costco has grown majorly in the past two decades. Since 2020, its stock has over doubled in value. Its success is in part due to small businesses buying bulk.
