Costco Superfans Share Their 'Craziest' Experiences at the Store

If the wildest thing you’ve ever seen at Costco is a steep, steep discount, consider yourself lucky. Costco superfans took to Reddit to share their craziest experiences at the warehouse store, and some of their stories are downright traumatizing. We’ve collected a few of the strangest and most outrageous accounts from that thread (plus one harrowing story from last year's headlines). Think you can top these tales? Feel free to share your crazy Costco stories below.

Related: These Are Costco’s Most Overpriced Products, According to Superfans

Have you ever seen someone abuse Costco’s generous return policy? One superfan says a shopper blatantly ate a bag of chips while in line, only to return the partially eaten bag and ask for a refund. Talk about brazen!

Related: Costco Products You Can't Return

At the end of last year, Costco employees ordered shoppers to evacuate its Superior, Colorado, location as the fast-moving Marshall Fire closed in on the warehouse. Colorado resident Hunt Frye was shopping for his wife when the employees ordered the evacuation. He described the moment as an "apocalyptic-feeling" in an interview with KDRV-TV. "People were running from their houses with their pet cats and, you know, everybody was very panic-stricken," he said. "The thing that really struck me was the fear in the police officers' face(s) who were trying to kind of get traffic going. They were legitimately scared." The fire devastated the region, destroying more than 1,000 buildings and killing two Colorado residents. Superior's Costco was minimally damaged in the fire and has since reopened.

Related: The Worst Wildfires in U.S. History

Weeks after buying a cookbook from Costco, one superfan returned to the store and happened to get the same cashier. The employee asked if the shopper had “tried the chicken” but wasn’t asking about Costco’s famous $5 rotisserie chicken … the employee remembered the cookbook.

That same Redditor also dealt with a stubborn shopper who accidentally grabbed the superfan's cart and refused to give it back. “It was crowded and I had to chase him through the store,” the superfan wrote.

Another superfan was shopping when a weather warning began popping up on shoppers’ phones. “Hearing everyone's phone alert go off in the store and then having everyone go silent at the same time to check their phone was very, very eerie,” the superfan wrote.

Out of nowhere, a Costco worker approached one superfan and started talking about her personal life. “I had an employee come up to me once and just start venting to me about her personal life drama. I guess she just wanted to vent to a stranger,” the shopper said.

It seems like a long time ago, but people were frightened when the pandemic first took hold — and rightfully so. That fear pushed some shoppers to snatch up essentials like it was the apocalypse, one Redditor recounted.