Costco is dropping its dedicated 9 a.m. shopping slot for seniors as it returns to pre-pandemic norms. It's already restarted free samples and sit-in dining.

• Costco's dedicated shopping hours for elderly and vulnerable customers will end this month.
• Costco began opening an hour early, at 9 a.m., for these customers at the start of the pandemic.
• In May, Costco said its free samples and sit-in dining at its food courts would start again.

Costco's senior shopping hours, introduced at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, will end this month.

Early in the pandemic, Costco started opening stores an hour early so that seniors and other vulnerable customers could shop without crowds. For most stores, this was between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m..

The warehouse chain said on its website on July 1 that stores across the US and Puerto Rico would resume normal hours from July 26. This means most will open at 10 a.m..

Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods also had similar shopping slots for high-risk customers.

At the start of the pandemic, Costco was inundated with shoppers stocking up on bulk goods, which caused giant lines and crowded stores.

As life has gradually started to return to normal, Costco has too. In May, its CFO Richard Galanti said that its widely popular free samples would come back "fully" at 170 out of its 660 locations.

He added that the busy food courts in its stores, which serve cheap hot dogs and pizza slices, would reopen for sit-in dining at most locations.

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