Every Costco has its quirks. The checkout lines that snake past the toilet paper pallets. The parking lot where courtesy goes to die. The guy blocking the aisle with his flatbed cart while he deliberates over a 48-pack of granola bars. We all deal with it. But there’s one Costco location that takes every single annoying thing about the warehouse shopping experience and cranks it to a level that borders on performance art. It’s the Sunset Park Costco on 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn, New York — and if you’ve ever been there, you already know exactly what I’m talking about.
One Costco for 2.5 Million People
Here’s the number that explains everything: Brooklyn has over 2.5 million residents and exactly one Costco. One. Let that sit for a second. California has 133 Costco warehouses for its 39 million people — that’s about one store per 300,000 residents. Brooklyn stuffs nearly ten times that ratio into a single two-story building in Sunset Park. It’s not a store with a crowd problem. It’s a crowd with a store problem. The place has been called the worst Costco in the world on Reddit, and regular shoppers don’t even argue with that label. They just nod.
The Two-Story Layout That Makes Everything Worse
Most Costcos are big, flat, single-story boxes surrounded by acres of suburban parking. The Brooklyn location, which opened in 1996, was Costco’s first two-floor store in the U.S. Electronics, household stuff, the pharmacy, and the food court are on the ground floor. All the groceries are on the second level, and you get up there via escalators and oversized cart conveyors. This sounds fine on paper. In practice, it’s a bottleneck factory. The escalator machinery regularly jams under the weight of overloaded carts. One shopper recalled a full-on traffic jam caused by people trying on shoes right next to the escalator landing. Picture a highway on-ramp where someone just decided to set up a picnic. That’s the vibe.
491 Parking Spaces and Pure Chaos
The parking lot has 491 spaces. For a store that serves millions of potential customers in one of the most densely populated places in the United States, that number is almost comical. Most of those spaces are full by 9 a.m. — when the store opens. Not an hour later. Not by lunchtime. By opening. Cars regularly end up parked in the fire lane and on the surrounding landscaping because there’s literally nowhere else to go. The lot is filled with constant honking and drivers screaming at each other over spots. One Reddit user described the parking situation as “bloodsport.” That same person reported witnessing an escalator stampede and seeing multiple people get arrested on separate occasions. This is a Costco, not a stadium after a rivalry game.
A Shopping Cart Fight That Brought the NYPD
In October 2025, the chaos at the Sunset Park Costco crossed a line that made national news. A dispute over a shopping cart on a Sunday afternoon turned physically violent. One man was injured, and the NYPD launched a formal investigation. The incident was caught on video and spread across social media. Customers who were interviewed about it basically shrugged. This was not a surprise to anyone who shops there. As one person wrote on the r/Costco subreddit: “Sometimes it’s like Hungry Games the way people come at you with their carts.” When a physical assault over a shopping cart barely registers as unusual to the regulars, you know something has gone deeply wrong with a store.
The Food Court Situation Is Absurd
Costco food courts are one of the best parts of the whole experience. A $1.50 hot dog and a drink. Pizza slices the size of your torso. Cheap rotisserie chicken. But at the Brooklyn location, the food court has about 10 seats. Ten. For the only Costco serving an entire borough of 2.5 million-plus people. There are never available seats. You’re eating standing up, balancing a slice on top of your cart while people shove past you on their way to the escalator. It’s less “quick lunch” and more “competitive eating in a subway car at rush hour.” The food court at this location exists almost as a taunt — a reminder of what the experience could be if the store were designed for the number of people who actually use it.
It’s a Money Machine (Which Is Part of the Problem)
Here’s the thing Costco corporate probably doesn’t want to talk about too loudly: this location prints money. The Sunset Park store was generating upwards of $150 million in revenue as far back as 2005, according to the New York Times. It’s one of the top-grossing Costcos in the entire country. And that revenue comes from the sheer volume of desperate shoppers who have no other option. A second Brooklyn location was reportedly considered at some point but never materialized. So the same crush of humanity keeps funneling into a 143,000-square-foot building that was never built to handle this kind of demand. The store is a victim of its own success, and the customers are the ones paying the price — with their time, their patience, and occasionally their physical safety.
“I Have Never Been to War, But…”
The best way to understand what this Costco is like is to read how actual shoppers describe it. One person on the r/Brooklyn subreddit wrote: “I have never been to war but I imagine being on the front line is very similar to Saturday at Brooklyn Costco.” Another called it a “hell hole.” Another: “the most Brooklyn experience imaginable.” Someone else on Reddit said: “Brooklyn is a living HELL. I will now drive an extra 30 mins to avoid that store.” These aren’t cherry-picked one-star reviews from people who had one bad day. This is the consistent, ongoing experience of people who shop there regularly. Costco’s overall customer satisfaction score across all locations is 81 out of 100 according to Statista. The Brooklyn store is not operating in the same universe as that number.
It’s Not Just Crowded — It’s Aggressive
Crowded stores are one thing. Plenty of Costcos are crowded. What separates the Sunset Park location is the atmosphere. The tension. When you pack that many people into a space that small with that few parking spots and that little seating, something shifts. People aren’t just annoyed — they’re operating in survival mode. The shopping cart fight in October wasn’t an isolated freak event. Regulars describe aggressive cart behavior, people visibly frustrated over a lack of space and carts, and a general sense that everyone in the building is one minor inconvenience away from losing it. A wallet was stolen from a 58-year-old woman at this same store in January 2025, with the thief using her credit cards before fleeing on foot. The NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline was involved. This is not a fun Saturday errand. This is an ordeal.
The Alternatives (and Why People Still Don’t Use Them)
Locals who’ve given up on Sunset Park say the closest alternatives are the Costcos in Staten Island, Queens, or across the river in New Jersey. All of those trips take 30 minutes or more each way, which is a big ask when you just need paper towels and a case of sparkling water. Some people have switched to BJ’s Wholesale. Others have developed survival strategies — shopping on Monday or Tuesday, going in the final hour before closing, memorizing their list so they can get in and out without browsing. The fact that people need actual tactical plans to buy groceries at a membership warehouse tells you everything about what this store has become.
Costco Could Fix This but Hasn’t
The frustrating part is that none of this is a mystery. Everyone knows the problem. There’s one store for too many people, the layout creates chokepoints, the parking lot is laughably small, and the food court is a joke. Opening a second Brooklyn location would relieve pressure immediately. Expanding the parking structure or adding satellite lots with shuttles would help. Limiting entry during peak hours — the way some stores did during 2020 — would make the experience less dangerous. But the store is wildly profitable as-is. It’s been raking in money for decades. There’s no financial incentive to change when people keep showing up no matter how bad it gets. And so the complaints keep piling up, the Reddit threads keep growing, and the NYPD keeps getting called to a warehouse store over shopping carts.
If you’re visiting New York and someone suggests a Costco run in Sunset Park, do yourself a favor: say no. Or at least go on a Tuesday evening with a short list, a thick skin, and zero expectations. You’ll still have a bad time. But at least you won’t end up on the news.
