Sylvia Irvin filled her car up to exactly $50 on Friday afternoon for a trip to California for the weekend.
“All I can think about is how expensive gas will be once I cross into California,” said Irvin.
Irvin gets gas exclusively from Costco, where the price for unleaded was $4.49 per gallon at the St. Rose Parkway location. Over at Sam’s Club on Serene Avenue, the price was around the same.
Like Irvin, many people in Southern Nevada have turned to getting gas exclusively at warehouse stores such as Sam’s Club and Costco for lower prices. Warehouse stores offer cheaper gas prices as an incentive to its members, a benefit now worth its weight in gold in the valley.
The price for unleaded is now at an average $5.06 cents in Las Vegas, according to AAA on Friday. This is an increase from last week’s average at $4.99.
At the Costco Business Center off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on Thursday, Kaila Gay was filling up her tank while the line at the pump was wrapping around itself. Gay said she can’t afford to waste gas driving around looking for the best prices.
“I will typically fill up my car a little bit at the Circle K near my work, but just enough to get me to a Sam’s Club or a Costco,” said Gay.
She said her whole family has been cutting down on costs by car pooling more, going out to eat less and cooking at home.
High gas prices are good for these warehouse stores’ net sales, despite lower profit margins compared to other gas stations. According to a March quarterly filing from Costco, which only spanned from November to Feb. 15, gas is a strategic part of their net sales.
“We believe our gasoline business enhances traffic in our warehouses,” said Costco in the filing.
The same goes for Sam’s Club. According to Walmart’s annual report, which only accounts for Jan. 31, 2025 to Jan. 31, it reported Sam’s Club growth was “partially offset by lower fuel sales.”
Gas prices typically rise during times of conflict.
On March 2, two days after the conflict in the Middle East began, gas prices in Southern Nevada sat at $3.70 per gallon. Now, it continues to climb, with Nevada sitting at the No. 5 spot in the country for unleaded and diesel, with California leading the pack.
The record high for Las Vegas gas prices was $5.61 per gallon and $5.67 statewide, which were both set on June 16, 2022, according to AAA. This was caused by amid supply chain issues, heightened demand coming out of the peak of the pandemic and the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.
