Why You Might See Costco Kirkland Products At Other Grocery Stores

Kirkland Signature products are popping up outside of Costco, and shoppers are taking notice. In an August 2025 Reddit thread, shoppers discussed seeing Kirkland products out and about at other grocery stores — and they're charging more than Costco.

As the original poster wrote, "You can't fool me, local bodega selling the tuxedo cake with a ridiculous markup!" The post includes a photo of a single slice of tuxedo cake with a price tag for $5.29. Costco's full-size cake — which placed second in our ranking of the store's chocolate desserts — is priced at $21.55 and contains 12 servings, which is approximately $1.80 per serving. While this seems like a massive markup at first, the slice in the photo seems larger than just ¹⁄₁₂ of the cake. More likely, the bodega gets about five slices from the whole thing. Regardless, the slice is likely marked up to some degree if it's being resold.

In the comments, Costco shoppers shared their own experiences. One user wrote, "Bro you gotta see my local store. Kirkland 1% Gallon milk for $7.29." For comparison, Costco sells two gallons of Kirkland Signature milk — you know, the ones that are ridiculously hard to open — for just about $9.08. Another person with direct experience in reselling Costco items wrote, "You should see the markup on the bottled water we resell at our dance studio." One user revealed that a coffee shop near them resells Costco pastries.

While discussing their experiences spotting Kirkland products outside of Costco, several Reddit users pointed out that reselling is actually the whole point of the warehouse chain. As a wholesale store, Costco sells items in bulk so that businesses can resell these items individually — there's even a whole section about purchasing for resale on the Costco website.

As one user wrote, "People in this thread being mad at Costco Wholesale for being a wholesale store." Another user chimed in, "I think people forget that Costco is a wholesale store." One person simply wrote "wholesale" in italics. One user wrote in defense of the bodega, "You're not paying $5 for the slice of cake. You're paying $5 to get it while you're out and about without having to drive to Costco for it. The other name for a bodega is a convenience store." All in all, most users in the comments seem to agree that there's nothing wrong with other businesses selling Costco products at a markup.

If you want to avoid upsold Costco products, though, just stick to buying your favorite items from the warehouse itself — and be sure to read our guide on what to know about shopping at Costco (especially if it's your first time). There's also nothing wrong with supporting your local bodega by occasionally buying a marked-up slice of cake.