Costco Kirkland Paper No Longer In Stores

[brady38]

At least in the Chicago area. Tonight I drove to the St. Charles store, 2 years old, very sucessfull, to purchase 8.5 x 11. Not a box to be had on the shelves and only about 40 boxes of 4 x 6. Talked to the store manager and he stated Costco, at least in the Chicagoland area, will no longer be carrying photo paper. I had him do a product search and out of over 25 stores, only 1 store had over 20 boxes of 8.5 x 11 (of which I will be at tomorrow morning). He stated they are not selling enough to warrant carrying the product. Kiosk processing is killing the business. Now I did go on Costco.com and they are still listing the paper, but at a higher price than at the store, and of course you pay shipping. I did not ask the manager about on-line availability, so I am not sure of the future in that direction. Tomorrow I will be stocking up with at least a years supply as I have put many hours in creating profiles matching Hobbycolors Ink with my Canon i-9900 and Pro 9000 printer.

To those of you that use Kirkland paper, you might want to check with your local store and see what their status is. Just because you see paper on the shelves, ask if they will be replenishing as their stock runs low. For myself, this is a real bummer, as I like the paper, works well with Hobbycolors ink and is priced right. Would hate to start over again matching paper, ink and printer. Please post on this forum what information you may come up with.

Thanks

David

 

[jjbruja]

Thanks for the heads up on the stocking situation. The Costco in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. (on today's visit) had plenty of 4x6's in stock. The 8x10 stock was behind the 4x6 boxes and not displayed. I'll be heading back tomorrow to pickup up at least 3 to 4 boxes of the 8x10.

 

[qwertydude]

I'll definitely be stocking up then too.

 

[jjbruja]

Thanks for the heads up on the stocking situation. The Costco in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. (on today's visit) had plenty of 4x6's in stock. The 8x10 stock was behind the 4x6 boxes and not displayed. I'll be heading back tomorrow to pickup up at least 3 to 4 boxes of the 8x10.

UPDATE: 4.9.2k10 6pm . 4x6 size - lot of stock. Spotted 1 carton that listed 150 sheets per box. Pulled all the 4x6 cartons out and found only ONE 8 1/2 x 11 box of 150 sheets in an otherwise empty carton. I looked at one of my old boxes from when this paper was made in Switzerland - that box had 125 sheets at 10 mil thickness. Today's box was 10.4 thickness from Mexico. I'm going to miss the stuff.

 

[mikling]

I had asked what if and never thought the day was approaching. Gosh time to stock up.

 

[fotofreek]

I went to the San Francisco Costco on 10th Street south of Market today. There was a large stock (cases) of both sizes of the Kirkland glossy photo paper on the shelf. A manager looked up these items on the computer and saw that it was still an active item. I did see the screen that showed the level of stock at several stores - some as far away as Fresno, CA. Although all had anywhere from 45 to 90 units on the shelf, they all showed zero on order. Since I don't know the computerized reorder level I don't know if this info was significant. Their system of distribution may be so rapid that their stock can drop significantly lower to trigger a reorder. If the store near you has low or no inventory you can ask an employee to check the computer to see if it is still an active item and if there is more on order. That said, I will tell you taht my previous communications with their regional purchasing department were met with less than adequate response.

 

[Grandad35]

Just to be safe, I bought 25 boxes today (there was still a large stock at my local store). When I got home, I looked at the Costco web site and saw that they are now offering a new version of their paper for $2 more per box.

Note the statement that this paper may be in stock at local warehouses - it looks like they are dropping the $18/box paper in favor of $20/box paper. If you look carefully at the box on the website, there appears to be a "Made in U.S.A." on the bottom left of the box. Since I seem to remember that the old US product only had 125 sheets/box, this image isn't just a copy of an old box.

 

[on30trainman]

Grandad35,
It looks like they just raised the price by $2 - inflation? I still have an unopened box of the Made in USA paper and it has the same item number as the one in your link and there are 150 sheets in the box also. The 125 sheet per box was the Made in Switzerland - also have an unopened box of that one. Guess I should use it up but have been using Red River Ultra Pro Satin and really like it's output from my Pro 9000 better than with the Kirkland Glossy. The picture on the Kirkland website does say Made in USA but why the yellow sticker with Now 150 Sheets when that was what it has been. Marketing?

Steve W.

 

[fotofreek]

Yesterday I emailed Costco and asked if they were discontinuing the paper as it is very popular with a very large number of people on our forum. They emailed today to tell me that they show it as still an active item in my area (San Francisco). I don't know if that means that there are some areas where it is not active?????? I'd suggest that everyone who is interested email Costco to see if it is still active in their area, and you can also remind them that there are thousands of people on this forum that use it in large quantities.

 

[mikling]

I would advise you to check the USA paper version for its properties carefully before you do some serious stocking.. I am now convinced that the USA version I bought years ago is not as good as the current Mexico version I have in my area.