What Is a Costco Business Center?

People don’t just like Costco, they love Costco — myself included. These warehouse stores, filled with bulk quantities of items and cult-favorite food finds, feel almost like an adult playground, where you can wander the aisles and sample free bites for hours.

If strolling through these warehouses and stocking up on groceries at incredible prices is your idea of fun too, then it’s time to meet the one thing that’s better than your go-to Costco location: a Costco Business Center.

Content creator James Bok recently went viral for highlighting these specialty locations of Costco, showcasing their distinct features and exclusive products that aren’t available at standard stores. This raises an important question: Are Costco Business Centers even real? Yes, they are — they even have their own dedicated website, separate from the main Costco site — and they provide several significant advantages unavailable at other Costco locations, such as extra food and beverage options.

Here’s everything you need to know about Costco Business Centers and why you should take a trip to one ASAP.

What is a Costco Business Center?

In a nutshell, these are Costco stores designed for businesses and restaurants. They sell office supplies ranging from calendars to pens, catering items for large events, cooking appliances and tools, and cleaning supplies. While they do not have clothes or food courts, they offer all the other groceries and food items found at typical Costco locations — albeit often in even larger bulk quantities.

According to the Costco website, there are currently 26 Business Center warehouses in the United States. This number is notably smaller than the number of regular warehouses in the U.S. (around 614), but most Costco Business Centers are located in urban areas like Chicago, Orlando, and Dallas, making them accessible to a larger number of people.

If you’re lucky enough to live in California, there are 11 Costco Business Center stores throughout the state. Even if it takes a road trip to get to one of these wonderlands, it’s worth driving a few hours once you know what awaits you.

Why should you go to a Costco Business Center?

There are several benefits you can reap from these unique locations that you won’t find at your usual Costco. To start, Business Centers typically open earlier than their warehouse counterparts. A typical Costco will likely open at 10 a.m. (although this may vary depending on the location), while Business Centers usually open at 7 a.m. This may be helpful for busy families who need to grocery shop before work or school.

If you need kitchen appliances, particularly large or expensive ones, this is the place to go. A Costco Business Center can be especially useful if you’re outfitting a kitchen for the first time, and you’ll find more affordable prices on some costly cooking supplies. For example, if I were to get a 64-ounce Vitamix E320 Blender delivered from the Costco Business Center in Dallas to a local home, this item would cost $274.99. In contrast, the same blender is priced at $388 on Amazon, translating to savings of over $100.

Finally, you should visit a Costco Business Center whenever you plan any large-format celebration. It’s also great for frequent entertainers. You can pick up disposable roasting pans, serving trays, napkins, paper plates, and more at much lower prices than your usual grocery store. And even if you only entertain occasionally, these products are non-perishable, which allows you to buy them in bulk and use them over the course of a few years.

Do Costco Business Centers have a better selection of food?

Yes, these business-centric warehouses offer food and beverage items that you won’t find at standard locations. While this may not apply to every genre of ingredient, the chain explains online that you’ll find individually packaged snacks (perfect for a kid’s lunch), a broader variety of beverages, and lots of chocolate bars and candy. (This is because convenience stores often shop for supplies at Costco Business Centers.)

Customers commenting online point out that the selection of meats at Costco Business Centers is much better than at other locations, which makes sense considering these stores need to supply restaurant kitchens. One Redditor notes that the “Meat section is amazing. We buy all our meat from there and it’s half the price of any other store,” and another says the “Meat, cheese, and snack selection is better. Significantly better.”

Who can shop at a Costco Business Center?

And now we’ve arrived at the best piece of news: anyone with a regular Costco membership can shop at a Costco Business Center. You don’t need to pay more to enter, so you can take advantage of these product arrays and savings without stress. If it weren’t for the lack of $1.50 hot dogs at the food court, we’d be at a Costco Business Center every single time we needed to shop at the superstore.