Costco Is Making Big Changes to the Food Court Soon—Here's What You Need to Know

Generally, when the topic of Costco’s food court arises, it usually has to do with either its extreme popularity amongst members or an announcement of the latest changes to the menu. And while most of the time customers can be heard singing praises for the popular food court, there are times when Costco is met with an equal amount of criticism as well. Such is the case now, as Costco seems to be trying out new food court seating arrangements in some warehouse locations — a decision that has a lot of shoppers up in arms.

In a recent post to the Costco subreddit, one very concerned shopper announced that their local warehouse in South Korea eliminated the usual food court tables and replaced them with tall, standing-only “monstrosities.” The disgruntled Costco member understandably had some valid concerns as they pointed out that the tables made it impossible for persons under 4 feet tall to use them, effectively eliminating the possibility for children and people with disabilities to eat comfortably in the food court. It was even noted that some families had taken to “sitting on the floor along the back wall” but were quickly told not to by a manager.

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Some members took the opportunity to chime in with some additional information regarding the sudden change in seating arrangements. “Mine, in Montana, added a few to the already existing tables. But they didn't take the seated ones away.”

As it seems though, this may be a drastic change in order to solve a larger problem that is unique to only some locations. One Redditor pointed out how in Japan there is an issue with large groups of women spending what seems like a whole day at Costco, taking advantage of refillable drinks and using the warehouse as a sort of hang-out spot while their “husbands are at work.”

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Other Redditors, however, opted to to praise the changes, claiming that one of the main reasons they were avoiding the food court in the past was due to the lack of available tables to sit at and the abundance of customers still lounging around after already finishing their food. Eliminating seats in this situation obviously encourages customers to move along more efficiently, giving other customers the chance to use the facility as intended.

So for now, as long as you're visiting a warehouse location in the States, you will likely still see the usual table setup you are familiar with. There may be some high-standing tables that will pop up here and there in addition to the regular setup, but until you see a sweeping change across multiple locations, your food court seats are still safe and sound.

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