Strategic Shopping: Beating The Crowds At Missoula's Busy Costco

Now that a week has passed since Missoula's epic storm, it may be time to restock those refrigerators or freezers, depending on how much time some residents were without power. For my family, our neighborhood was without power until midday Sunday. That was long enough for some of our food to go bad.

So off to Costco, I went to get some of the essentials. The Missoula Costco is a very busy store, especially on the weekends. It can also be very busy on the day before a holiday weekend, which I found out on July 3rd this year. There are times when the store isn't as busy, so if you prefer shopping without large crowds, you may want to consider shopping at different times if you can.

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The weekends are busy almost all the time. I have tried to get there first thing in the morning and it's already crowded, late afternoon and it's crowded. For me, the best times for shopping have been in the middle of the week during the mid-afternoon or early evening. If you shop when local schools are getting out for the day, or during dinner time, the crowds may not be as big. If you are shopping around dinner time, there aren't as many people taking up aisles while they are waiting for free food samples.

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Those times aren't always the most convenient for shoppers. That's why the smaller crowds. But if you can shop at those times, you may find the shopping goes much smoother and faster. The hardest part about shopping at those times isn't store crowds; it's getting through the North Reserve traffic just to get to the store.