Costco Gas Stations Nationwide Extended Hours

[storewanderer]

I remember a long time ago when Costco first started to sell gas in Reno. Like mid 90s. The station took Visa and MasterCard only and as I recall it was unattended later at night. It was absolutely open after the store closed, but I don't remember how late it stayed open.

That's interesting, I thought that Costco always had an exclusive contract with one credit card brand at a time. I thought it was debit only, but I was young back then and not really paying attention. Was this only gas stations or did Costco warehouses also accept Visa and MasterCard before the Amex partnership started in 1999?

Only the gas station, not the store itself. I'm not sure what payment cards the store accepted back then. I don't think they accepted debit because I don't think they had pinpads yet.

WinCo had a gas station in Reno with a similar set up. The pumps accepted Visa, MasterCard, or Debit. I can't remember if the pumps accepted cash too (we had a few stations in the area doing that in the late 90's). It was never priced overly competitively. This was back at the point when WinCo did not take debit in store yet. They had some kind of fuel discount if you spent $100, it was given via a barcode on the receipt. The station was unattended at all times. It was branded American Road Discount Fuel. They closed/demolished it and a restaurant was built on the land.

On the Costco gas topic they recently opened a new store in Sacramento and it doesn't seem to have fuel. They have another one opening east of Sacramento around Rocklin/Loomis and that one also will not have fuel. Strange to me they are building stores without fuel. Sam's Club seems to have really pushed them to build fast and figure out details like gas stations later.

[babs]

I remember a long time ago when Costco first started to sell gas in Reno. Like mid 90s. The station took Visa and MasterCard only and as I recall it was unattended later at night. It was absolutely open after the store closed, but I don't remember how late it stayed open.

That's interesting, I thought that Costco always had an exclusive contract with one credit card brand at a time. I thought it was debit only, but I was young back then and not really paying attention. Was this only gas stations or did Costco warehouses also accept Visa and MasterCard before the Amex partnership started in 1999?

I think they only took the Discover card before the Amex partnership in addition to debit cards. I think that's why I had a Discover card back in the day. Now I don't know why you would have one.

[mbz321]

I think they only took the Discover card before the Amex partnership in addition to debit cards. I think that's why I had a Discover card back in the day. Now I don't know why you would have one.

Discover probably would have been my first/main credit card, but when I applied for the Discover 'student' card I got denied for no credit history (duh), which made no sense since they sent me the application themselves I soon applied for a Citi card which I still use to this day and got it no problem.

It will be interesting if the Capital One/Discover merger goes through as planned and what the outcome of that might be, but that's a whole other topic.

[veteran+]

I think they only took the Discover card before the Amex partnership in addition to debit cards. I think that's why I had a Discover card back in the day. Now I don't know why you would have one.

Discover probably would have been my first/main credit card, but when I applied for the Discover 'student' card I got denied for no credit history (duh), which made no sense since they sent me the application themselves I soon applied for a Citi card which I still use to this day and got it no problem.

It will be interesting if the Capital One/Discover merger goes through as planned and what the outcome of that might be, but that's a whole other topic.

Capital One will destroy Discover Card.

[buckguy]

I remember a long time ago when Costco first started to sell gas in Reno. Like mid 90s. The station took Visa and MasterCard only and as I recall it was unattended later at night. It was absolutely open after the store closed, but I don't remember how late it stayed open.

That's interesting, I thought that Costco always had an exclusive contract with one credit card brand at a time. I thought it was debit only, but I was young back then and not really paying attention. Was this only gas stations or did Costco warehouses also accept Visa and MasterCard before the Amex partnership started in 1999?

Only the gas station, not the store itself. I'm not sure what payment cards the store accepted back then. I don't think they accepted debit because I don't think they had pinpads yet.

WinCo had a gas station in Reno with a similar set up. The pumps accepted Visa, MasterCard, or Debit. I can't remember if the pumps accepted cash too (we had a few stations in the area doing that in the late 90's). It was never priced overly competitively. This was back at the point when WinCo did not take debit in store yet. They had some kind of fuel discount if you spent $100, it was given via a barcode on the receipt. The station was unattended at all times. It was branded American Road Discount Fuel. They closed/demolished it and a restaurant was built on the land.

On the Costco gas topic they recently opened a new store in Sacramento and it doesn't seem to have fuel. They have another one opening east of Sacramento around Rocklin/Loomis and that one also will not have fuel. Strange to me they are building stores without fuel. Sam's Club seems to have really pushed them to build fast and figure out details like gas stations later.

They've built locations without fuel in places where neighbors/local organizations didn't want it and in places where the site was obviously too small or awkward. A quick Google search suggest that traffic issues led to them not being able to build a gas station for one of the Sacramento locations.

[Alpha8472]

That's interesting, I thought that Costco always had an exclusive contract with one credit card brand at a time. I thought it was debit only, but I was young back then and not really paying attention. Was this only gas stations or did Costco warehouses also accept Visa and MasterCard before the Amex partnership started in 1999?

Only the gas station, not the store itself. I'm not sure what payment cards the store accepted back then. I don't think they accepted debit because I don't think they had pinpads yet.

WinCo had a gas station in Reno with a similar set up. The pumps accepted Visa, MasterCard, or Debit. I can't remember if the pumps accepted cash too (we had a few stations in the area doing that in the late 90's). It was never priced overly competitively. This was back at the point when WinCo did not take debit in store yet. They had some kind of fuel discount if you spent $100, it was given via a barcode on the receipt. The station was unattended at all times. It was branded American Road Discount Fuel. They closed/demolished it and a restaurant was built on the land.

On the Costco gas topic they recently opened a new store in Sacramento and it doesn't seem to have fuel. They have another one opening east of Sacramento around Rocklin/Loomis and that one also will not have fuel. Strange to me they are building stores without fuel. Sam's Club seems to have really pushed them to build fast and figure out details like gas stations later.

They've built locations without fuel in places where neighbors/local organizations didn't want it and in places where the site was obviously too small or awkward. A quick Google search suggest that traffic issues led to them not being able to build a gas station for one of the Sacramento locations.

The Costco in Danville, California was built without a gas station. The city opposed a gas station in such an affluent high class city. The city never budged for 30 years, so Costco obtained the Office Depot across the street in the city of San Ramon. They bulldozed the Office Depot and built the largest Costco gas station that I had ever seen.

So this Costco is one of the few Costco stores to stretch across two cities. Technically there are two stores. There is a building next to the gas station with its own break room. I don't know if the gas station has its own employees or shares employees with the Costco across the street.

[ClownLoach]

Only the gas station, not the store itself. I'm not sure what payment cards the store accepted back then. I don't think they accepted debit because I don't think they had pinpads yet.

WinCo had a gas station in Reno with a similar set up. The pumps accepted Visa, MasterCard, or Debit. I can't remember if the pumps accepted cash too (we had a few stations in the area doing that in the late 90's). It was never priced overly competitively. This was back at the point when WinCo did not take debit in store yet. They had some kind of fuel discount if you spent $100, it was given via a barcode on the receipt. The station was unattended at all times. It was branded American Road Discount Fuel. They closed/demolished it and a restaurant was built on the land.

On the Costco gas topic they recently opened a new store in Sacramento and it doesn't seem to have fuel. They have another one opening east of Sacramento around Rocklin/Loomis and that one also will not have fuel. Strange to me they are building stores without fuel. Sam's Club seems to have really pushed them to build fast and figure out details like gas stations later.

They've built locations without fuel in places where neighbors/local organizations didn't want it and in places where the site was obviously too small or awkward. A quick Google search suggest that traffic issues led to them not being able to build a gas station for one of the Sacramento locations.

The Costco in Danville, California was built without a gas station. The city opposed a gas station in such an affluent high class city. The city never budged for 30 years, so Costco obtained the Office Depot across the street in the city of San Ramon. They bulldozed the Office Depot and built the largest Costco gas station that I had ever seen.

So this Costco is one of the few Costco stores to stretch across two cities. Technically there are two stores. There is a building next to the gas station with its own break room. I don't know if the gas station has its own employees or shares employees with the Costco across the street.

I think they scared the citizens of Tustin into letting them build a gas station after years of push back. They had clearly stopped investing in the store, allowed it to get dim and dark inside with bad lighting, and there was another store on the other side of town a few miles away. I heard they started a closure rumor that they would consolidate into the newer, larger building because of the gas pump issue and eventually the city let them build a massive 32 pump station plus remodel the store to meet modern standards.