Costco introduces curbside pickup in the U.S.

Costco has begun offering curbside pickup.

The service is available at three of the food retailer’s locations in New Mexico.

Costco has yet to release a statement on the service. According to its consumer-facing website, however, the service is powered by Instacart and enables shoppers to pick a 1-hour no-contact pickup window. Costco charges $10 for the service and requires a $100 minimum order.

The service is only available to Costco members. A request to Costco about a curbside launch in Canada remained unanswered as of press time.

Costco is coming off a hot 2020, and the retailer recently said it had continued to see an acceleration in same-store sales due to its efforts to create a safe space for shoppers.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2021, the 12 weeks ended Nov. 22, same-store sales at Costco increased 17%, up from Q4's 11.4% increase. Online sales jumped 86%. Net sales for the first quarter increased 16.9% to US$42.35 billion from $36.24 billion last year.