This Kirkland Signature Item Has Been Disappearing From Costco Shelves And Fans Aren't Happy

If you've ever shopped at Costco, then you likely have at least one Kirkland Signature item that you swear by. From delicious frozen meals to a variety of home and grocery staples, Costco's famous private brand has earned itself quite the cult following across all categories — including, apparently, soy milk. Kirkland Signature's organic soy beverage has indeed been a longtime favorite of shoppers who prefer a dairy-free alternative to milk. Unfortunately, it seems that it has lately been disappearing from store shelves, a development that may very well be permanent. 

On the r/Costco subreddit, we've discovered multiple threads from Costco customers scratching their heads about their inability to find the Kirkland brand soy milk in recent months, with one Reddit user launching a thread called, "What's going on with the Soy Milk?" Their question earned more than 100 comments in response, many of them from soy-loving shoppers desperate to get their hands on some cartons of the stuff. "This is kind of an existential crisis for me," wrote u/oh2climb, "because we've been buying that for around 20 years now. Buying similar products at other retailers is [much] more expensive. Don't know what I'll do." 

Reddit poster u/Schrodingerscactus shared that a Costco representative told them that the soy milk was being pulled due to poor sales. Upon reaching out to a Costco customer service representative ourselves, however, Tasting Table was told that the store's "suppliers and buyers could not agree on a price" to give customers the lowest possible pricing on the product.

While news of the pause has been a blow to diehard fans of Kirkland Signature's organic soy beverage, there is a sliver of silver lining. In our aforementioned communiqué with Costco, the representative added, "That does not mean it is gone forever, [as] we are just in negotiation" with the supplier.  However, customers may have to wait quite a while for a new shipment to hit shelves.

In the meantime, Costco's non-dairy drinkers will have to find a suitable substitute for their bygone favorite, which was praised for its creamy texture and non-chalky mouthfeel. Unfortunately, Costco's replacement beverage has already been racking in some rough reviews. In a recent thread, poster u/mothman_fan called it "very watery," and noted that "[I]t also has a light amount of grit in it which was off-putting." 

But all hope for an equally tasty soy milk is not lost, though it will require switching retailers. A number of folks have pointed to none other than Trader Joe's organic soy milk as being a worthy contender, with one Redditor actually calling it superior to the Kirkland brand: "Flavor is better and less oily than Kirkland, and it allows me to actually create long lasting foam for my coffee," they wrote. Not only does it pack in more protein per serving (9 grams compared with Kirkland's 7 grams), it's also made with just two ingredients: Water and organic soybeans. At $2.29 per carton, it's a bit pricier than Costco's, but for discerning soy sippers, it may be worth the splurge.