Irkhabar/Shutterstock
If you love eating berries for breakfast, you unfortunately have somewhat of an expensive (albeit healthy!) habit. But if you're a Costco member, buying your favorite fruits in bulk here might help you cut down on grocery costs. If Costco can offer a large quantity of strawberries at a competitive price, where exactly is it getting them from?
Costco's strawberry source always varies, and this seems to depend on the region and season. This also allows Costco to seek out the best prices, which it can then pass on to its customers. In a recent Instagram video from 2026, a company called Nature's Choice Produce posted a video of organic strawberries being sold in a Costco location, with a caption that read, "You can find us at Costco🛒🍓!! Try the most fresh Organic Strawberries and Raspberries." The location featured in the video was not shared, but Nature's Choice Produce is based in San Diego, California. In a Reddit post from two years ago on r/Costco, the original poster shared a photo of hydroponically-grown strawberries from a company called I Heart Hydros, from Santa Maria, California.
California seems to be the most common location of origin for Costco's strawberry source. In 2016, it announced that it would be using GoodFarms strawberries from farms in Watsonville, California. And in 2019, California Giant Berry Farms shared that it would be shipping its strawberries to the Shanghai Costco location. Even if the supplier changes, chances are the Costco strawberries you bought were grown in California: The state grows 88% of the country's strawberries, according to California Strawberries.
How customers feel about Costco's strawberries
KVMArt/Shutterstock
When it comes to customer feedback, Costco strawberries have mixed reviews, which seems to be the general trend for its produce. As one customer recently wrote in the r/Costco subreddit, "The unfortunate state of Strawberries. Anyone Costco's out there have good ones?" A user who responded explained that it could have been too early in the season for good strawberries.
On the strawberry product page on Costco's website, there are very few reviews, but two of them mention that the box of berries contained moldy ones that they had to toss. One of the reasons you might not want to buy your produce from Costco is because the larger containers often go bad before you use all of it. However, if you do get a bad box at Costco, know that you are allowed to return produce.
But it appears strawberries from different suppliers seemed to have fared better with customers. The previously mentioned hydroponic strawberries were better liked; the original poster of the Reddit post wrote, "Hydroponic strawberries. 2 lbs. for $6.99 in California Costco. 10/10," with another user describing them as "marginally better" than regular strawberries. In 2021, Costco carried greenhouse grown strawberries during the winter, and these, called Dreamberry were a huge hit, per Reddit.