Minnesotans Will Now Be Paying More To Shop at Costco

Hold onto your wallet-- you'll soon be paying more to shop at Costcos here in Minnesota.

When you think of Costco, you probably think of buying huge packages of toilet paper or paper towels, giant tubs of guacamole, queso, or other delicious dips, and massive packages of coffee and other food items, right?

Well, sure, Costco has all of those items and more. In fact, a new article by Real Simple found that the most popular items Minnesotans like to buy when they head to Costco are:

1. Kirkland Signature Organic No-Salt Seasoning
2. Kirkland Signature Three Berry Blend
3. Kirkland Signature Italian-Style Beef Meatballs.

But no matter what you buy at Costco, it'll soon cost you more both here in Minnesota and at Costco stores across the country. That's because the giant retailer just announced that will be raising membership fees starting on September 1st, 2024.

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Here are the specifics, according to this CNBC story:

The membership-based warehouse club said Wednesday that it will increase its membership fee by $5 in the U.S. and Canada as of Sept. 1. That is an increase to $65 from $60 for annual memberships. Its higher-tier plan, called “Executive Membership,” will increase to $130 a year from $120.

Costco noted that this hike is the first membership fee in 7 years, with the last membership fee increase having been implemented in 2017. And don't kid yourself, membership fees are big business for Costco. In a release, the wholesale retailer noted that last year, Costco earned $4.6 billion in revenue from membership fees, an 8 percent increase from 2022.

ALSO INTERESTING: Minnesotans Angry With New Change at Costco

Costco currently operates 882 warehouses, including 609 in the United States and Puerto Rico and 108 in Canada, which will all be affected by these new increases later this fall. There are 13 Costco locations here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes:

+ Baxter
+ Burnsville
+ Duluth
+ Eagan
+ Eden Prairie
+ Maple Grove
+ Maplewood
+ Minneapolis (2)
+ Rochester
+ St. Cloud
+ St. Louis Park
+ Woodbury

There's no doubt that Costco is one of the top brands around today, right? But will it ALWAYS be that way? Maybe not, seeing as some brands that were once very popular and well-known now no longer exist. Keep scrolling to see how many YOU remember.

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