Why You Should be Worried When You See a Star on Costco Items in Minnesota

You're out shopping at Costco when all of a sudden you notice a star (*) on the price tag of your favorite item. What the heck does that mean? You can find these stars in Costcos all over Minnesota and the country.

Have you ever noticed them before? For some reason, it took me a little over a year of shopping at Costco to notice these stars, and then I had to do some research to find out what it meant!

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First, shout out to the site The Kitchn for the info. I also discovered from the same site a few other Costco pricing hacks that I wanted to share.

So before we get into the meaning of the stars at Costco...

Pricing Hacks for Shopping at Costco

If the price ends in a 9, that's the "normal price" for the item.

If the price ends in a double zero or a 7 the item is on sale/clearance. The price may not go any lower.

And if the price ends in a double 8, that also means it's on sale/clearance but the price was marked down by a manager. The Kitchn says this would be for items that have been returned, items that were returned and may not be perfect or missing pieces but are still sellable, or it was a floor model.

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Now back to the mysterious stars!

Stars or Asterisks on Costco Items

If you see one of the below stars on an item, especially if it's something you love, you have reasons to be concerned.

I remember when I first noticed these. A woman asked me if I knew what the stars were and I realized I had no idea. In fact, I had never noticed them before.

As I kept shopping I kept noticing these stars. Not all of the price tags had them, only a few.

I originally thought that maybe it signified a sale. But no, plenty of the items I saw with stars weren't on sale.

So I took to Google and pretty soon, I had my answer.

What the Stars Mean on Costco Items

I learned that these stars are sometimes called 'death stars' by Costco-goers.

No, not the Star Wars Death Star.

The little star in the corner actually signifies that the item will not be restocked. Once it's gone, it's gone. Hence, the death star name.

So if an item that you love has a little star in the corner, grab a stockpile!