Costco's New Perk Goes Into Effect Today

Costco Wholesale is giving members the option to shop early beginning on Tuesday (September 2).

The store, which typically opens at 10:00 a.m. Sunday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, is now allowing Executive Membership holders to enter the store one hour earlier. The bulk-size wholesale store operates as a paid membership club, with its baseline Gold Star Membership priced at a one-time payment of $65 for one year and its Executive Membership at $130 for one year, according to the store's website.

The Executive Membership also includes the perks of an annual 2% reward, $10 monthly credit on SameDay.Costco.com or Costco via Instacart and additional value on Costco services, as well as the same benefits offered by the Gold Star Membership.

Costco CEO Ron Vachris announced the "Executive Member Shopping Hours" launch in June, which was intended to level the playing field against its wholesale competitor, Sam's Club, owned by Walmart, which gave its Plus Members two additional shopping hours on weekdays and one extra hour on Saturdays. The additional hour will give Costco Executive Members the opportunity to avoid the store's notoriously long checkout lines and parking lot traffic, as well as early access to its popular food court, optical centers and pharmacies, though the latter is closed on Sundays.