If You See a ‘Death Star’ on a Costco Item in Minnesota, Grab it Right Away

When you're out shopping at Costco locations in Minnesota, have you ever noticed that some of the price tags have a little something extra on them? I was asked this weekend if I knew what it meant, and I didn't have an answer. So I did some research.

Carly's Costco Adventure

I was out at Costco this weekend. While I was walking down an aisle I had stopped by a certain item and this woman came up next to me. She asked if I knew what the star meant.

I thought, "What the heck is she talking about?"

Then she pointed at the price tag and sure enough there was a star on it. I told her I had no idea what it was. And that was basically the end of our exchange. But it left me wondering what in the world that little star was for.

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As I kept shopping I kept noticing these stars. Not all of the price tags had them, only a few. I thought maybe it signified a sale. Nope, because plenty of the items I saw with stars weren't on sale.

So I took to Google. And pretty soon, I had my answer.

What the Stars Mean on Costco Items

Turns out, the cool people who are in the know (which will be us in a moment!) call these 'death stars'.

Not like that.

The little star signifies that the item will not be restocked. Once it's gone, it's gone.

So if an item that you love has a little star in the corner, grab a stockpile!

Shout out to the site The Kitchn for the info on the Costco death stars. I also discovered from the same site a few other Costco pricing hacks that I wanted to share.

Pricing Hacks for Shopping at Costco

So we now know about the death stars. Here's what else I learned from The Kitchn.

If the price ends in a 9, that's the "normal price" for the item.

If the price ends in a double zero or a 7 the item is on sale/clearance. The price may not go any lower.

And if the price ends in a double 8, that also means it's on sale/clearance but the price was marked down by a manager. The Kitchn says this would be for items that have been returned, items that were returned and may not be perfect or missing pieces but are still sellable, or it was a floor model.