Shoppers Share Their Most Expensive Impulse Buys at Costco
Written by
Lydia Kibet
Edited by
Rebekah Evans
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Costco has a way of turning the most disciplined shoppers into big spenders. You walk into the store with a grocery budget and walk out with a cart you can’t push. That’s the “Costco effect.” Shoppers describe it as a spell that gets cast once the cart starts rolling.
And if you’ve ever walked in to grab some hot dogs or paper towels and left with a patio set, you’re not alone. Below, shoppers share their most expensive impulse buys at Costco.
A $23,000 Hot Tub
Ann Watson, nurse and mother of three from O’Fallon, Missouri, visited her local Costco last October to buy toilet paper and paper towels. Her home was already filled with previous Costco finds, including a $330 Halloween skeleton and a $1,000 backyard playset. While in the checkout line, Watson was drawn to the sparkly hot tub in the display. “Oh my God, I’m in trouble,” she said.
Before she could second-guess herself, Watson had purchased a $23,000 five-seat luxury spa with a salt-water system. It’s by far the most expensive Costco impulse buy to date. Despite the hefty price tag, she has zero regrets, especially when her three kids happily splash water during sunny afternoons or when she soaks her muscles after a long day at work.
A $599 Pizza Oven
Lucia Lu, senior consultant at Nextpins, planned to stick to her $150 grocery budget during her recent Costco run. As she strolled around the frozen foods section, she saw a shiny stainless steel outdoor pizza oven she couldn’t resist. The rational voice in her head quickly justified the purchase: “Why order pizza from the local place when I can make pizza at home every Friday night?”
She purchased the $599 oven, almost four times her initial budget. “Did I need it? Absolutely not,” Lu said. “Do I regret it? Only on cleaning days.”
A Whole House Full of Costco Finds
For Natalia Stefanioutine from San Jose, California, Costco shopping has become a weekly ritual. She and her husband visit Costco to treasure hunt and most of the time their $150 budget often doubles or triples.
“It’s just like some kind of spell gets cast after you swipe your membership card,” Stefanioutine said. “We sometimes forget to buy the things that were on the list.”
An Unplanned Mattress
Cristal Hernandez and her husband, from Stockton, California, shop at Costco for nearly everything, from groceries to tires and furniture. While they plan most of their purchases, they once impulse bought a new mattress in 2020.
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