Quick answer
Costco doesn't run department-wide clearance sales — every markdown is entered at the individual warehouse. But each department has its own rhythm. Clothing turns over fastest (and has no official "clearance day"), patio furniture bottoms out in late August, seasonal goods crash the week after the holiday, and electronics drop in dollar terms more than any other department. All of them signal the same way: a price ending in .97.
Most Costco clearance advice treats the warehouse as one undifferentiated space — walk the perimeter, look for .97, done. That's good general method (and we cover it in our step-by-step clearance guide), but it misses something useful: departments don't behave the same way.
Apparel and seasonal merchandise are on a hard calendar — Costco physically cannot carry them into next year. Electronics follow product refresh cycles. Grocery barely clears at all. Knowing which department you're hunting in tells you when to show up.
Costco Clothing Clearance
Clothing is the fastest-moving clearance department at Costco, and the one people search for most. Let's answer the common question directly.
Is there a Costco clothing clearance day?
No — there is no official clothing clearance day. This is a persistent myth. Costco doesn't run a scheduled apparel markdown event the way department stores do. Staff enter markdowns as inventory needs to move, which in practice means new .97 apparel tags appear most often on weekday mornings.
Why apparel clears faster than anything else: Costco treats clothing as a treasure-hunt category. Buyers purchase a fixed quantity, it sells or it doesn't, and there's no reorder. When a style stops moving or the season turns, it goes straight to .97 — there's no gradual 20%-off, then 30%-off ladder like a mall retailer uses.
The apparel clearance calendar
- •July–August: Summer apparel — shorts, swimwear, sandals, tanks. This is the biggest apparel clearance window of the year.
- •January–February: Winter coats, fleece, sweaters, and holiday-adjacent apparel. Second-biggest window.
- •Late August–September: Back-to-school leftovers — kids' basics, backpacks, uniform-style pieces.
- •Year-round: Broken size runs. Once a style is missing the middle sizes, it gets marked down regardless of season.
One apparel-specific tip: clothing clearance often moves. Marked-down apparel gets pulled off the main tables and consolidated onto a rack near the fitting-room wall or the back corner of the department. If you only walk the center tables, you'll miss it.
Costco Furniture & Patio Clearance
Furniture — especially patio and garden furniture — produces the steepest markdowns in the warehouse, for a simple physical reason: Costco has nowhere to put it. A patio set occupies real floor space that has to be handed over to Halloween, then Christmas merchandise. The set has to go, and the price reflects that urgency.
When patio furniture gets marked down
- •Early July: First markdowns appear. Selection is still good, discounts are modest.
- •Late August–September: The deep cut. This is when patio sets hit their floor price, often 40–60% off. Selection is picked over but the discounts are real.
- •Whenever the floor model is the last one: Display units get marked to .00 or .88 rather than .97 — those are manager closeouts on a single remaining unit.
Indoor furniture — sofas, mattresses, office chairs, bed frames — doesn't follow a season. It clears when a vendor contract ends or a model is discontinued, which can happen any month. The asterisk in the corner of the tag is your signal here: it means the warehouse isn't reordering, so the price only goes down from here and the stock is finite. Our price tag guide covers exactly what the asterisk and each price ending mean.
Worth knowing: furniture is where price adjustments pay the most. If you bought a patio set in early July at $999.99 and it drops to $699.97 three weeks later, that's $300 back — and Costco's 30-day price adjustment policy covers it. Big-ticket seasonal items are the single best category to watch after you buy.
Seasonal & Holiday Clearance
Seasonal is the most predictable department in the warehouse. Costco sets holiday merchandise out remarkably early and clears it remarkably fast — the markdown almost always begins before the holiday, not after.
- •Summer & 4th of July: Clears through July. Outdoor games, coolers, pool supplies, grills.
- •Halloween: Starts dropping mid-October, crashes the first week of November.
- •Christmas: Decor and trees begin marking down in mid-December — before the holiday — and bottom out the week after.
- •Spring/garden: Planters, soil, and outdoor decor clear in June once the planting season passes.
The rule of thumb: seasonal merchandise hits .97 roughly two to three weeks before the season actually ends, because Costco needs the floor space for the next season, which is already in the back. Waiting for the day after the holiday usually means waiting until it's gone.
Electronics & TV Clearance
Electronics don't follow a seasonal calendar — they follow product refresh cycles. When a manufacturer announces next year's TV lineup, the current model becomes a clearance candidate regardless of the month.
Two windows matter most. February through April is when prior-year TV models clear as new lineups ship. Late January is when post-holiday electronics overstock gets marked down. Outside those, watch for the asterisk on any TV, laptop, or tablet tag — in electronics it's a reliable signal that a replacement model is already in the pipeline.
Electronics also produce the largest dollar drops in the building, even when the percentage looks modest. A TV moving from $1,299.99 to $999.97 is only 23% off, but it's $300 in your pocket. This is the other department where watching prices after you buy genuinely pays.
Grocery & Household: The Exception
Grocery is the one department where clearance hunting mostly doesn't work. Core grocery items are permanent stock — they get vendor-funded promotional pricing (endings like .49, .79, or .89) rather than true clearance markdowns, and those prices go back up when the promotion ends.
The exceptions are discontinued items and seasonal or trial products — a limited-run snack, a holiday food gift set, a brand Costco is dropping. Those get .97 tags like anything else. If you see .97 in grocery, it genuinely isn't coming back. The difference between a promotional price and a real clearance price is entirely in the price ending, which our price code chart lays out in one table.
Is There a "Costco Outlet"?
No. Costco does not operate outlet stores, clearance centers, or liquidation warehouses. There is no separate location where Costco sends its markdowns.
This confuses a lot of shoppers, because most big retailers do have an outlet channel. Costco doesn't. All clearance happens inside regular warehouses, mixed in with normal inventory, marked only by the price ending on the tag. That's the entire system.
You may find third-party liquidation sites and auction houses reselling Costco returns and overstock. Those aren't affiliated with Costco, the pricing isn't Costco's, and crucially, you don't get Costco's return policy or member protections. If you want genuine Costco clearance, it's in the warehouse.
Department Clearance at a Glance
| Department | Peak window | Discount depth |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing | July–Aug, Jan–Feb | Frequent, moderate |
| Patio & garden | Late Aug–Sept | Deepest (40–60%) |
| Indoor furniture | Year-round | Deep on floor models |
| Seasonal & holiday | 2–3 weeks pre-holiday | Very deep (50–75%) |
| Electronics | Feb–Apr, late Jan | Largest dollar drops |
| Grocery | Discontinued only | Rare |
The Catch: It's Still Warehouse-Specific
Everything above tells you when to look. It can't tell you what's actually marked down at your store right now — because every one of these markdowns is authorized locally. The patio set at .97 in one warehouse is full price at another across town.
That's the gap CostLow fills: members report the .97 tags they find at their specific warehouse, so you can see what's clearing near you instead of guessing from a national blog. And when you scan a receipt, the app watches those items for drops inside the 30-day adjustment window — which, in the furniture and electronics departments above, is where the real money is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a Costco clothing clearance day?
No. Costco has no official clothing clearance day—markdowns are entered by warehouse staff as inventory needs to move, not on a fixed weekly schedule. In practice, new .97 apparel tags show up most often on weekday mornings, so Tuesday through Thursday before noon is the best time to check.
When does Costco mark down clothing?
Clothing gets marked down when the seasonal changeover happens, typically 6 to 10 weeks before the season ends. Summer apparel starts dropping in July, fall and winter clothing in January and February. Apparel moves to .97 faster than almost any other department because Costco does not carry it over between years.
When does Costco clearance patio and garden furniture?
Patio furniture usually begins hitting .97 in July and August, with the deepest markdowns in late August and September once the floor space is needed for holiday merchandise. Because patio sets are bulky and warehouses cannot store leftovers, the discounts are among the steepest on the floor.
Does Costco have an outlet store?
No. Costco does not operate outlet or liquidation stores. Clearance happens inside regular warehouses through .97 markdowns. Third-party liquidation sites that resell Costco returns are not affiliated with Costco and do not offer the membership return policy.
Which Costco department has the best clearance discounts?
Seasonal and patio furniture have the deepest percentage discounts because Costco cannot store the leftovers, and holiday items are often 50 to 75 percent off after the date passes. Clothing has the most frequent markdowns, and electronics have the largest dollar-value drops.
Do clearance prices vary by department at different warehouses?
Yes. Every markdown is authorized at the individual warehouse based on that location's inventory. A patio set can be .97 at one store and full price at another across town, which is why national deal sites cannot tell you what is actually on clearance near you.
Explore More Guides
Go deeper on timing, tags, and refunds:
- →Best Time to Find Costco Clearance
The best day, time of day, and season to walk in — across every department.
- →What Does .97 Mean at Costco?
The clearance price ending explained, and why it's specific to your warehouse.
- →How to Find Costco Clearance Items
The repeatable walk-the-store method for spotting markdowns fast.
- →Costco Price Adjustments Explained
How to get the difference back when a big-ticket item drops after you buy.
