While many retailers are making plans to close stores in 2025, Costco is doing the opposite. The warehouse club giant is planning to expand its 600-plus store footprint in the U.S. with two new locations in Texas next month, two in California, one in Michigan, and a sixth in Massachusetts.
A big reason for Costco's success is its customer-focused philosophy. Unlike traditional supermarkets and big-box retailers, Costco relies on membership fee revenue to boost its bottom line. Because of this, it's constantly looking to improve the customer experience by offering new products of value.
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But while customers tend to flock to Costco for its universally low prices, the store's famous food court is another major draw. Perhaps the most famous food court staple is the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo — a meal deal whose price hasn't changed in decades.
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Costco’s food court offerings have also evolved over time. In 2024, Costco replaced its food court churros with a giant double chunk chocolate chip cookie.
While some fans welcomed that change, others bemoaned the loss of the churros. And some members complained that the food court chocolate chip cookie was merely a larger version of the bakery staple sold in packs of 24.
More recently, Costco made another big change to its food court menu. And like the chocolate chip cookie, so far, the reviews are mixed.
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A big Costco food court menu change
Earlier in 2025, Costco confirmed that it would be switching from Pepsi to Coca-Cola later this year. But it didn't want to wait until summertime to make a change to its smoothie offering.
Costco has officially rolled out a new strawberry banana smoothie to take the place of its now-discontinued fruit smoothie. The strawberry banana smoothie contains five servings of fruit and has 320 calories — a much lighter hit to the waistline than its 580-calorie cold brew mocha freeze.
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One thing Costco didn't change about its smoothie was the price. The new strawberry banana smoothie, like its fruit smoothie predecessor, is a reasonable $2.99.
Food court fan reactions are mixed
Any time a well-known restaurant makes a change to its core menu lineup, fans seem to have mixed reactions. Such is the case with Costco's new strawberry banana smoothie, which has only been available for a handful of weeks.
Costco fans took to Reddit to share their thoughts. One user said the strawberry banana smoothie "was actually very good." But others were quick to criticize its high sugar content.
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"While it tastes fine, I could tell there was added sugar," said one user. Another said, "It’s not bad and has a tanginess to it, but GOOD LORD, is it sweet!"
Other users downright hated it. One commented, “It’s terrible. Loaded with sugar and it’s really foamy, almost slimy.”
The good news for folks who aren’t a fan of this menu change is that Costco tends to track sales carefully and listen to customer feedback. So if it finds that the new strawberry banana smoothie doesn’t seem to be going over well, it will probably be quick to remove it
Whether it’s replaced with the old fruit smoothie or another new product is to be determined.
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To Costco’s credit, ever since last year’s leadership team shakeup, members have seen a number of key changes hit the stores. But while Costco’s desire to innovate and excite customers with new products is commendable, it risks going to the opposite extreme of needlessly reinventing the wheel.
Thankfully, one food court mainstay that won’t be going anywhere anytime soon is the hot dog and soda combo. While fans of the combo may have to fill their giant cups with Coca-Cola this summer instead of Pepsi, the deal itself is too much of a fan staple to be tampered with.
And as CFO Gary Millerchip reassured Costco members last year, despite numerous changes, including an increase in membership fees, “the $1.50 hot dog price is safe.”
Maurie Backman owns shares of Costco.
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