‘Sam’s Club scan & go is where it’s at’: Woman buys Costco pumpkin pie. It backfires

Every year, Thanksgiving pulls in masses of Costco customers who swarm for the store's famous Kirkland Signature Pumpkin Pies. One woman shares the intense experience to get her hands on one.

In a TikTok with almost 748,000 views, content creator Ruth (@whateverbruh9) shows just what many Costco shoppers withstand to buy one (or many) of the coveted pies.

“I’m in Costco waiting in line for a pumpkin pie. I heard they gave out one hundred numbers,” Ruth begins as she stands inside the store. She holds up a sticky note with a number scribbled across the front. “I got 71. We’ll see.”

Ruth pans the camera to the massive line of Costco shoppers waiting with numbers of their own. The line wraps around several times. “It’s a little crazy, but here I am.” 

As the video ends, it cuts to a small clip of a $5.99 pumpkin pie in Ruth’s shopping cart while she proudly proclaims, “I got it!”

Users weigh in

In the comments, users shared mixed experiences about the availability of Kirkland Signature Pumpkin Pies at their local Costco locations on Thanksgiving.

“At my Costco there were tables and tables full of pies. There was a surplus,” one user wrote.

“I was at Costco this morning and they had hundreds of them. No one was waiting in line at all,” a second viewer chimed in.

“You could’ve made one for $10 in the time it took to wait for one,” a third person quipped.

Other viewers noted some rather interesting sights from their Costco. 

“A woman at my Costco had two carts full of pumpkin pies,” one such viewer shared.

How did Costco's pumpkin pies get so popular?

Costco’s Kirkland Signature Pumpkin Pies have made quite an impression during the holiday season since they debuted in the store’s bakery section in 1987. Available for only a few months in the fall and winter, the proudly preservative-free, 12-inch pies weigh in at 3.8 pounds (56 ounces) and easily feed a family of 12. 

The Daily Meal reports that the pies use only Dickinson pumpkins, which are specifically bred to create canned pumpkin filling. The pie is a family recipe pulled straight from the personal archive of Costco’s vice president of bakery operations, Sue McConnaha. 

Famously priced at $5.99 (with only slight variation for certain locations and for an organic version of the pie), the pies have been a family favorite for many across the country for decades. Even after almost 40 years on the market, the pies’ cult following shows no signs of slowing down. In 2019, Costco sold 6.1 million pumpkin pies, 2.1 million in the three days before Thanksgiving. 

Are Costco's pumpkin pies worth it?

The question remains: are the famous pumpkin pies worth it?

Molly Allen is a professional baker who recently tried pumpkin pies from Costco, Walmart, Kroger, and Safeway. While she says homemade is always the ideal way to go, when it comes to store bought, the baker voted Safeway’s as her favorite and Costco’s as a “close second.” She praised Costco’s famous pie for its “sweeter taste” with “notes of vanilla,” but called its crust “thin” and lacking in flavor or texture.

But another cook and food writer, Wendy Hector, called the pie “all it’s cracked up to be.” She highlighted the pie’s filling as “soft and creamy with a melt-in-your-mouth quality,” subtly flavored, and equipped with a “pillowy lightness that keeps you going back in for another bite.”  Hector concludes that finding a pumpkin pie of such quality and size at such a low price point is "miraculous."

Whether or not Kirkland Signature Pumpkin Pies tickle your fancy, it is clear the pies have a hold on its loyal fans. Despite standing in line and her notable joy at getting one, however, Ruth suggests she wouldn’t do it again.

In a reply to a comment under her TikTok advising her to just make a pumpkin pie at home, the content creator wrote: “I think I’ll do that next year. I was already there so I thought I’d pick up a pie. They said ‘you need a number, come back in ½ an hour,’ so I did. Didn’t realize there was going to be a line.”

@whateverbruh9 #costco #costcopumpkinpie ♬ original sound - Ruth

The Daily Dot has reached out to Ruth via TikTok private message and Costco via email for more information. 

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