Costco is one of those rare stores where people will genuinely fight you for a rotisserie chicken. And I mean that literally — at one location, a shopping cart dispute in October 2025 turned physical enough to bring the NYPD. The chain has almost 600 warehouses in the U.S., and most of them are fine. Great, even. But a handful of locations have earned reputations so bad that shoppers have canceled memberships, driven 30 miles to a different store, or simply given up and gone home empty-handed. Here are the worst offenders, ranked from rough-but-manageable all the way down to the absolute pit of American retail.
Huntsville, Alabama — The Weekday Trap
This one sits off Memorial Parkway in the middle of a big-box cluster, which means traffic is already a mess before you even pull into the lot. The real problem is that this was the only Costco in that part of Alabama for most of its existence. That means it doesn’t get the typical weekend-only rush — it’s slammed every single day. One shopper reported going on a random Wednesday afternoon expecting a breeze and walking into what felt like a Saturday mob scene. There’s no off-peak window. If you live in the area, you’re just accepting your fate every time you walk through those doors.
Aurora Village, Shoreline, Washington — The Gas Station From Hell
On paper, the Shoreline Costco near Seattle shouldn’t be this bad. But its parking lot is shared with a Home Depot and about a dozen other stores, which means weekends are a coin flip on whether you’ll even get a spot. Inside, the food selection is weirdly thin compared to other locations, though for some reason there’s an oversized clothing section nobody asked for. The checkout lanes are constantly reconfigured, so you’re never sure where a line starts or ends. And the exit funnels through a narrow passage between the food court and promotional services that bottlenecks instantly. The gas station is another disaster — only two pumps per lane, no display screens telling you when a pump opens up, and the lanes somehow merge with a metro bus depot. Real buses holding up your trip to fill the tank. The nearby SoDo Seattle location, by comparison, has three pumps per lane, display screens, and its own dedicated lot. Night and day.
Bellingham, Washington — The Canadian Border Battlefield
Bellingham is right next to the Canadian border, and Canadians drive south because gas and cheese (among other things) are significantly cheaper in the U.S. The result is a nonstop flood of cross-border shoppers fighting over carts, gas, and rotisserie chickens from open to close. Multiple shoppers have called it the worst Costco in America, full stop. There’s no weekend vs. weekday difference — it’s packed all the time. Add in a large local retiree population shopping during off-peak hours and you lose even the midweek windows that work at other stores. It’s a perfect storm of constant, relentless crowds with zero relief valve.
Portland, Oregon — The Sales Tax Magnet
Portland has no sales tax. Washington state does. You can guess what happens next. The Costco near the state border gets absolutely crushed by Washington residents hauling large-screen TVs and other big-ticket items across the line to dodge the tax. One shopper said they stopped in for something simple, saw the chaos, and left without buying anything. Another said the experience “traumatized” two friends who had never been to a Costco before — and they had to take those friends to a different Oregon location afterward to prove that not all Costcos are like that. Better options in the area include the Tigard and Hillsboro stores, if you’re willing to drive a bit.
Davie, Florida — Mad Max at the Gas Pumps
Just northwest of Miami, the Davie Costco shares its already small parking lot with a Chick-fil-A, which is its own gravitational force. The gas station has been compared to both “The Hunger Games” and “Mad Max” by shoppers on Reddit. Nobody in south Florida stops for pedestrians. Nobody returns carts. And during summer storms — which happen daily from June through September — every single person in the store camps out under the front entrance, backing up the exit line all the way to the bathrooms. It’s basically a case study in what happens when you combine aggressive driving culture, bad weather, and a shared parking lot with a fast food restaurant that has its own insane drive-thru line.
Marina Del Rey, California — The Triple Threat Parking Lot
This Costco shares an entrance and exit with a Valvoline, a gas station, and an In-N-Out Burger. That’s three separate businesses generating their own traffic, all funneling through the same choke point. The gas station is close to LAX, so it draws a constant stream of people returning rental cars and topping off the tank. One shopper said they “almost died several times trying to park and leave” the lot. The nearby South Monterey Park location is somehow even worse — it shares space with In-N-Out, Chick-fil-A, and Home Depot, with only two bottleneck routes in and out. Shoppers blamed the developers for designing a lot that maximizes business density with zero thought for traffic flow.
Arlington, Virginia — The Underground Bunker
The Pentagon City Costco is wedged under a parking garage next to the Fashion Center mall. Getting in means waiting in line at a gate. Then waiting to park. Then waiting to check out. Then waiting to leave. Every step involves a line. One local said they lived right next to it and didn’t even want to walk through the traffic to get there. Other shoppers describe losing cell signal inside the subterranean layout. It feels less like a warehouse store and more like a bunker where you wait in a series of queues until you’re finally released back into daylight.
Alhambra, California — Where Costco Memberships Go to Die
Alhambra might be the most feared Costco in the country. On Yelp, one-star reviews are the most common rating — not a typical distribution for any business, let alone a Costco. Shoppers describe it as “everything that makes Costco a difficult experience dialed up to 150%.” The parking lot was featured in the Los Angeles Times as one of the city’s worst, with shoppers tailgating each other and “vulturing for a spot near the front.” Inside, the aisles clog instantly. Free sample stations become what one Redditor called a “piranha attack.” People have reportedly had their carts emptied and stolen by other members in the aisles. Others park at the adjacent Target to avoid the lot entirely. Multiple people have said they gave up their Costco membership after moving and realizing Alhambra was their closest location. The only survival strategy, per veterans: arrive the second it opens, never go on weekends, and don’t even think about it after noon.
Iwilei, Honolulu, Hawaii — The Busiest Costco on Earth
The Honolulu warehouse is frequently cited as one of the busiest Costcos on the planet, with revenue reportedly close to double the average store. In Hawaii, groceries run 30 to 50% more expensive than the mainland, so Costco isn’t just a convenience — it’s a financial necessity. That desperation fills the store with what locals describe as “Disney theme park level” crowds. The entrance has been compared to a ride queue. Parking lot arguments are routine. One shopper said someone tries to run them over with a cart at Iwilei “every freaking time, without fail.” Casual browsing is not an option here. Locals who’ve figured it out say: enter via the gas station side, park on that end of the lot, have your list memorized before you walk in, and move with purpose. One regular said switching to the gas station entrance “has done wonders for my mental health.”
Sunset Park, Brooklyn — The Undisputed Worst Costco in America
If the internet has reached a consensus on anything, it’s this: the Brooklyn Costco on 3rd Avenue is the worst in the country. It’s a two-story store — groceries downstairs, everything else upstairs — and it’s considered the busiest Costco on the entire East Coast. Shoppers use phrases like “hell hole,” “the most Brooklyn experience imaginable,” and “god awful.” One Redditor compared it to being on the front line of a war. Another described it as “bloodsport” and said they’d seen people getting arrested on multiple occasions. The parking lot has been called “a holy place for the auto body shops” and a spot “where people of all races come together to fist fight peacefully.” The food court never has open seats. The aisles are clogged with Instacart shoppers filling massive orders. And in October 2025, a fight over a shopping cart got violent enough to require an NYPD investigation and left someone injured.
Locals who refuse to give up their membership have developed coping strategies: shop Monday or Tuesday, show up about an hour before closing, or just order through Instacart and let someone else deal with it. The N/R train is nearby, and some people take an Uber for big hauls just to avoid driving into that lot. Even those workarounds come with no guarantees.
How to Survive Any Bad Costco
If you’re stuck with one of these locations as your nearest warehouse, here’s what seasoned shoppers recommend. Tuesday and Thursday between mid-morning and early afternoon are generally the calmest windows at most stores. One Costco employee confirmed that Tuesday nights are the quietest across the board. Wednesday mornings get a surge because new coupons start that day, but by Wednesday afternoon things settle down. An insider trick that’s been shared widely on Reddit: show up 10 to 15 minutes before the posted opening time, because warehouse doors are often already up. One person said they were done shopping — including grabbing a hot dog from the food court — in 25 minutes flat using this method. And if you’re in the Western time zone, Super Bowl Sunday after kickoff is apparently dead quiet. Rain helps too. Most people won’t brave a downpour for a 48-pack of paper towels, but that’s exactly when you should.
Costco doesn’t put up aisle signs on purpose — the company’s co-founder admitted it forces customers to wander and buy more. They also constantly move inventory around for the same reason. Employees often don’t know where things are either. The best defense is a tight list and a refusal to browse. Get in, grab what you need, and get out before the parking lot swallows you whole.
