Costco Is Opening a New Sushi Counter—But There's a Catch

Good news, shoppers: Freshly rolled sushi may soon be coming to a Costco near you. While not yet officially confirmed by the warehouse retailer, a new post on the Costco subreddit (r/Costco) has revealed that a new sushi counter is set to open at Costco’s flagship warehouse in Issaquah, Wash., this Friday, June 9.

From the looks of the picture added to the post, the new sushi station will be located right next to that location’s bakery, fitted with a prominent “Kirkland Signature Sushi” sign overhead. Along with the image, the post’s author wrote: “Employee saw me taking a picture and told me it opens this coming Friday, 6/9. Can’t wait to try it! Hoping it’s much better than the pre-packaged variety they’ve sold in the past.”

Costco members have long enjoyed a wide array of baked goods freshly prepared at each location’s in-house bakery. Now it appears Costco is at the very least experimenting with the concept of in-house sushi preparation. The warehouse club’s flagship unit in Issaquah is often used as a testing ground for new concepts before they’re rolled out to other Costco locations throughout the country.

Up until now, Costco has largely only offered members pre-prepared sushi purchased from a distributor. There are exceptions, however, as Costco locations in both Hawaii and Japan have carried fresh sushi for some time. “They’ve had sushi in the Japanese Costcos for years. It was easy and cheap to get a tray or two of nigiri and maki sushi for a no-prep dinner. I hope the product we get here is just as high quality and inexpensive,” commented one Redditor.

Rumors first began to swirl that the warehouse retailer may be embracing in-house sushi back in April, and Costco members immediately expressed their excitement at the prospect of fresher fish. There’s a lot to like about Costco’s grocery offerings, but sushi has never been one of them. Shoppers have routinely rated Costco’s pre-made sushi very poorly.

“Tried this once. It was terrible…1/10 would never buy again,” one Redditor said about Costco’s pre-packaged sushi earlier this year. “Walk away. Do not buy these they are not good. The rice is way too tangy and the fish is mediocre,” wrote another user.

Costco has yet to comment on this unfolding sushi situation, so all of the information we have suggests a fresh sushi station will only be opening at the Issaquah, Wash. location—at least for now.

While many Redditors in the thread mentioned seeing sushi at their local locations, the new Kirkland Signature Sushi station looks to be something else entirely. “People acting like it’s the same pre-made stuff the other Costcos have don’t realize this is a totally different (new) thing. I’m going to try it and report back,” the post’s author clarified in the comments.

While we’ll have to wait until the counter opens to find out how the sushi will taste, Costco members are already primed and ready to start ordering California and Spicy Tuna rolls. “I’m in Spokane, Washington. I’ll straight up drive over to Issaquah now lol,” commented one user. “I hope they are reasonably priced and will expand to other states. I’m excited,” said another Redditor.