We wrote a story about how to use the Costco mobile app to search for wine almost two years ago when the feature was first introduced.
We tried to keep that post updated with various tips we found and those from readers. The search function works good, but not great, and with each app update, things seem to be improving.
But here's a good hack that has been working really well for us. Instead of search terms like "wine" or "Kirkland wine," which both work ok, try using "750" and "750ml" (no space).
This is a tricky way to use the size of a wine bottle to show the entire inventory. Some wines are listed with a space between the 750 and ml, and others are not, so you need to search using both terms.
For some reason, a lot of the wine inventory doesn't appear with other search terms, but every standard size bottle will appear when you use 750 and 750ml. Obviously, 375ml and large formats won't appear, but you could search for those by size too.
You may get a couple other random items in this search; we often get olive oil (Graza is good stuff btw).
Here are a couple of screen shots for a search around the Atlanta area using the two terms:
Give it a shot and see if it gives you a good idea of the wine inventory at nearby warehouses.
If you have any other tips, please share in the comments. Cheers.
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AtTheMurph says
Perhaps it's a function of each store? When I try the 750 or 750ml search I get far fewer wines than if i simply search for "wine".
Doug C says
I more often have the opposite problem: bottles that show up on the app as "In Stock" but are nowhere to be found inside the store. That happens surprisingly often.
Janet Brad says
That doesn’t work at all in the bay area. I get exactly one bottle of wine, a Chardonnay, that looks like it actually exist in the store. I also get sets that cost tens of thousands of dollars and a lot of glasses and other junk.