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If you smoke and love a bulk bargain, it is a natural question: does Costco sell cigarettes? The short answer for most shoppers is no. Costco once sold cartons of cigarettes at some of the best prices around, but over the past decade the warehouse giant has quietly pulled tobacco from nearly all of its regular locations, in Canada and the United States alike.
In this guide, we explain exactly where things stand today, why Costco walked away from tobacco, what the picture looks like province by province, and where Canadian smokers can still find carton pricing that beats the corner store.
At standard Costco warehouses, cigarettes are gone. Costco began scaling back tobacco years ago, and by 2016 Fortune reported that fewer than 200 of its roughly 488 US warehouses still carried tobacco, down from a majority a decade earlier. The retreat continued from there, and today tobacco sales are essentially limited to a handful of Costco Business Centres that serve commercial customers.
Costco never framed this as a moral crusade the way CVS did when it dropped tobacco in 2014. A company spokesperson explained to Money that tobacco is a low-margin category with high theft rates and heavy labour requirements, and that the shelf space simply earned more selling other products. In other words, it was a business decision: cigarettes stopped making sense for Costco’s model.
Canadian Costco warehouses followed the same path, and in some regions moved even faster. Regular Costco locations across Canada phased out tobacco around 2015 and 2016, and members shopping today will not find cigarettes at the warehouse, full stop.
Canada’s retail environment made the exit even easier here. Every province enforces display bans that require tobacco to be hidden from view, which means dedicated staff, locked cabinets, and extra compliance work. Combine that with Canada’s steep tobacco taxes squeezing margins even thinner, and the category was a poor fit for Costco’s high-volume, low-overhead approach. If you have ever wondered why cigarettes are so expensive in Canada, those same taxes are a big part of why big-box retailers lost interest in selling them.
For everyday consumers, no. The narrow exception is Costco’s small network of Business Centres, which cater to convenience stores, restaurants, and other commercial members. Some of these locations handle tobacco for qualified business members who buy for resale, and Costco treats the category with strict rules: valid business credentials are required, and tobacco purchases cannot be returned under any circumstances. Unless you own a store with the paperwork to prove it, this route is closed to you.
No. Ontario Costco warehouses stopped selling cigarettes around 2016, and members noticed quickly, since Costco had been one of the cheapest legal sources of cartons in the province. Ontario’s Smoke-Free Ontario Act adds some of the country’s tightest rules on tobacco display and handling, which made the category especially burdensome for a warehouse-format store. Today, Ontario smokers buy from convenience stores, gas stations, and local cigarette retailers across Ontario instead.
Alberta warehouses held onto tobacco a little longer than some provinces, but the outcome was the same: standard Costco locations in Alberta no longer sell cigarettes. Alberta’s Tobacco, Smoking and Vaping Reduction Act imposes the same display restrictions found elsewhere in Canada, and Costco applied its national phase-out to the province’s warehouses. Smokers in Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, and beyond now rely on cigarette retailers throughout Alberta for their regular supply.
Calgary follows the provincial picture: none of the city’s Costco warehouses sell cigarettes. It remains one of the most common local questions in Calgary community groups, usually from longtime members who remember the old tobacco counter. If you are in the city and looking for a reliable source, our guide to where to buy cigarettes in Calgary covers your current options.
This was Costco’s whole appeal for smokers: carton pricing with warehouse margins. When Costco carried tobacco, it sold cigarettes by the carton at prices that routinely undercut convenience stores by a wide margin. That deal no longer exists for regular members anywhere in Canada or the US. The only carton and case sales left in the Costco ecosystem happen at Business Centres, for licensed resale customers only.
The good news for Canadian smokers is that carton pricing did not disappear with Costco. Specialty retailers, including online options, still sell by the carton at prices that compete with or beat what Costco used to charge. Our breakdown of whether you can get cigarettes delivered in Canada explains how that works and what the rules are. For those exploring beyond the big legacy names, there is also a wide world of Canadian cigarette brands sold by the carton at prices that make the old Costco deal look ordinary.
For consumers, the honest answer today is: none. Back when Costco stocked tobacco, Canadian warehouses carried the major mainstream brands in carton format. Now, brand selection is only a question at the Business Centre level, where inventory is aimed at retailers restocking their own shelves and varies by location. If you walk into any regular Costco in Canada hoping to browse cigarette brands, you will leave empty-handed regardless of which brand you smoke.
There was no single cutoff date. Costco phased tobacco out gradually, location by location, with the biggest wave of removals happening between roughly 2014 and 2017. Most Canadian warehouses dropped cigarettes around 2015 and 2016.
Costco has said the decision was commercial rather than ethical: tobacco is a low-margin product with high theft risk and heavy handling requirements, and the space was more profitable when used for other merchandise. Declining smoking rates and strict display laws in Canada reinforced the decision.
Regular warehouses do not. A small number of Costco Business Centres carry tobacco for qualified business members who purchase for resale. Costco warehouses do still sell smoking-cessation products such as nicotine gum and patches.
Generally yes. Carton prices at Costco typically beat convenience store pricing, which is why the phase-out stung loyal members. Today, comparable or better carton pricing is mostly found through specialty and online retailers rather than big-box chains.
Convenience stores and gas stations sell cartons, though usually at full retail markup. Specialty tobacco retailers and legal online options tend to offer the best carton pricing in Canada today, particularly on value-priced Canadian brands.
Does Costco sell cigarettes? Not anymore, not in Canada, and not for regular members anywhere. What was once a smoker’s favourite bulk deal ended quietly as Costco concluded that tobacco no longer paid its way on the warehouse floor. For Canadian smokers, the carton-price hunt has simply moved elsewhere, and in many cases the deals waiting outside the big-box world are better than the one Costco took away.
