Costco Customers Raise a Big Store Complaint That’s Surprising for Such Devoted Shoppers

One of the things that makes Costco a unique entity in the retail environment is that the company has managed to inspire loyalty among many of its customers. In fact, some of the company's members frequently discuss and share the latest news about Costco, including the deals and new products that become available.

While inspiring that kind of passion among their customers is a huge strength of Costco's, it also provides the company's members with an avenue to commiserate over their frustrations. Recently, some of Costco's most interested customers came together to voice a common complaint about one of the company's policies.

Costco Customers Are Complaining About the Lack of Aisle Signage

In the modern business environment, it can often feel like every store is the same aside from aspects like size. For example, it now feels like every McDonald's location and Wendy's restaurant looks virtually the same from the outside, aside from the signage, which seems like it is getting smaller. However, Costco has been an outlier to that phenomenon since the company's stores legitimately feel like warehouses inside, which is very different from its competitors.

While Costco's feeling unique is a good thing, it turns out that many of the company's most passionate customers wish their stores were more like their competitors in one way. On December 8, 2025, a user on the r/Costco subreddit posted about their frustration that the company's stores don't have aisle signs while using the following title. "Is it just me or does anyone else hate the lack of aisle labels?" The body of that Reddit post expressed what the user wished would change about Costco stores. "I like the the usual store that’s like 'groceries' or 'pasta and noodles' or 'children’s clothes'. With costco, if I want something, I have to guess which aisle it’s in."

Of course, every company fields complaints, so a single person voicing that they hate Costco not having signs that reveal what is down each aisle wouldn't be significant. However, the post got more than 1,300 upvotes from the subreddit's other users in less than 24 hours. On top of that, there was so much engagement in response to the post that the original poster edited what they wrote to express their surprise. "I did not realize this would generate so many comments lol." Unfortunately for Costco, many of the responses to the post echoed the user's complaint about the lack of aisle signs.

The fact that the post received so much support from the members of the r/Costco subreddit is more significant than it might seem at first blush. After all, the people who frequent the subreddit dedicated to Costco will almost certainly be among the population of people who care most about the company and its stores.

Some Reddit Users Pointed Out the Possible Reasons Why Costco Doesn’t Have Aisle Signs

In response to the aforementioned r/Costco subreddit post, users made some truly fascinating comments. One example of that was a pretty hilarious comment that framed the lack of aisle signs in a new way. "Costco is intentionally partially a scavenger hunt." As funny as that idea is, another one of the most-upvoted comments offered an explanation for the lack of aisle signs. "They move stock around way too quickly for signs to even be meaningful, they’d also have to change the signs all the time."

Ultimately, the single most-upvoted response to the post was from someone who argued that Costco's lack of signs is a deliberate attempt to inspire more impulse buys from their customers. "I think that's the point. Is people have to venture down aisles they usually wouldn't and find something additional to buy.