5 Hidden Gems You Can Only Find at Costco’s Business Centers

If you’re paying for a Costco members and stick to shopping solely at your local club, I’ve got some bad news: You’re not getting the maximum value out of that annual membership fee. There are better deals — and cheaper prices — to be found outside of your go-to warehouse location. And if you aren’t stopping by a Costco Business Center every so often, you’re totally missing out.

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Every Costco membership includes access to the Costco Business Center, a separate entity from the usual Costco warehouse stores. There are 27 Business Center locations within the U.S., and they carry different inventory than your regular club. But the perks of shopping here aren’t solely about the variety. At a Business Center, you’ll not only get to take advantage of Costco’s usual bulk discounts, but also potentially save even more money with bigger savings and even lower prices.

Oh, and I can’t forget about the hidden gems. If you have yet to explore your nearest Costco Business Center, here are five items you can only find there and save significantly on.

Chips and Snacks

Chips and snacks are plentiful at Costco’s Business Centers. After all, they’re designed for businesses, where snacks are typically needed in bulk. But while you might find a few variety packs like you’d spot at your usual warehouse, the Business Centers stock better bulk packs.

Just take chips, for example. While you can only buy variety packs of small snack-sized bags at a typical Costco, the Costco Business Center sells bulk-sized boxes of those same snack-sized chip bags… but you can pick up a variety pack or a single-flavor pack. That makes it a far better deal, since you’re guaranteed to avoid any flavors you don’t love (I mean, who’s eating the Fritos in variety packs anyway?).

Same goes for nuts, granola bars, and trail mix, too. You can opt in to just one single flavor, which ensures you’re getting only the option you like best. And the prices are comparable, if not cheaper per-ounce or per-serving, compared to your typical Costco.

Frozen Fruits and Vegetables

Being able to buy frozen fruits and vegetables in bulk at Costco is a perk I always take advantage of, but at Costco Business Center, they’re even better. That’s because you’re not stuck buying a mixed bag (literally). If you want 5 pounds of peas, carrots, or broccoli, you can find it here. And the prices are wonderfully cheap. 

If you have a large family, meal prep, or simply like to keep your freezer stocked with long-lasting produce, the Business Centers offer single-ingredient options so you don’t have to pick through a bag of mixed veggies (can you tell I’ve done this for the pickiest members of my family before?).

Even better? One of my go-tos is the Business Center’s 3-pound bag of frozen peeled, pitted, and halved avocados. It’s the cheapest way to buy avocados and ensures they’ll have a long shelf (or freezer) life. And if you love avocado on everything from toast to tacos to casseroles like I do, it’s an absolute steal price-wise.

Energy Drinks and Sodas

If you’re someone who likes a well-stocked fridge filled with soda, energy drinks, or even sparkling water, Costco Business Center’s drink selection is unmatched. Sure, there are quite a lot of options at a regular Costco. But at the Business Center, it’s even bigger and better… and you can get single-flavor packs here, too, just like you can in the snack aisle.

Costco’s Business Centers sell a ton of single-flavor cases of drinks, so once again you’ll only have to pay for the flavors you like. This means you can stock up on your go-to Red Bull, Rockstar, or Monster Energy picks (including diet options). You may even find hard-to-find sodas like Diet Dr. Pepper that aren’t available at every Costco. 

My personal favorite is the La Croix selection. The Business Centers always stock a larger selection of flavors and specific combos that aren’t available anywhere else, like a bundle that includes Cherry Lime and Blackberry Cucumber. And there’s always pallets of Limoncello on hand so I don’t have to settle for a lesser flavor.

Coffee

Speaking of drinks, don’t skip the coffee aisle at a Costco Business Center. In fact, if you drink as much coffee as I do, you should probably start buying all of your ground coffee or coffee beans at the Business Center instead of your usual warehouse. Yes, the coffee is well-priced here. But more importantly, there are often better deals and cheaper prices on equally huge bags of beans and grounds.

And when it comes to flavors and variety, the Business Center simply has so many more options. You can settle on standard, no-flavor-added blends from name brands or opt for large packs of seasonally-inspired flavors. 

Just how cheap is the coffee here? Well, on sale I’ve found giant bags of beans for as little as $12. With the rising price of coffee everywhere, that’s a steal that’s well worth going out of your way to buy.

Flavored Syrups

If you don’t like your coffee black, you need to stop by Costco Business Center purely for the flavored coffee syrups alone. The lineup here is impressive, even to someone like me who rarely adds any kind of syrup into homemade lattes or other concoctions. The Business Center tends to carry DaVinci Gourmet, a popular brand, and offers a wide range of options that includes basic French Vanilla as well as sugar-free flavors like Green Apple and Strawberry.

You should also know that these aren’t your usual regular-sized bottles of flavored syrups. They’re supersized bottles (it is Costco, after all), so you can pick up more than 25 ounces of a single syrup per bottle. And they’ll cost you just as much as a far smaller bottle found at your local grocery store or Target.