Now you can shop for groceries at Costco and other stores without leaving the house

If the thought of braving Costco – or other big stores – on a busy day fills you with dread, you’re in luck.

Starting Tuesday, shoppers can do all their shopping without setting foot in the store.

That’s when online grocery delivery service Instacart launches in the Fresno area. It works with trained personal shoppers who buy items at Costco, Vons, Smart & Final, CVS and Petco. It has since added Sam’s Club, Sprouts, Total Wine & More, BevMo! and Sur La Table. They deliver the purchases in a cooler to shoppers’ doorsteps.

Delivery times range from an hour for 10 items or less to delivery times that can be scheduled seven days in advance.

Instacart is the latest grocery delivery service to do business in Fresno, following Vons’ longtime program and Walmart’s new “click and collect” service that lets shoppers pick up their purchases in the store’s parking lot.

Instacart starts next week in Fresno, Clovis, Malaga, Easton and several other neighborhoods. (See below for a list of 21 zip codes where the service is available.)

“Over the past year we’ve seen incredible demand in the Fresno area,” said Sean Twersky, senior regional director, in a news release.

The service covers about 50 million households nationwide and is adding three or four new cities a week, Twersky told The Bee last month.

The service costs $5.99 for orders of $35 or more. There is no delivery charge if customers sign up for Instacart Express membership. After a free trial period, membership costs $14.99 a month or $149 per year.

Customers order through the Instacart phone app or website. First-time customers can test out the service using the promo code HIFRESNO. The code takes $20 off an order of at least $35 and is good for one free delivery. The code expires Nov. 1.

Instacart customers do not need a Costco membership to buy from Costco.

The people buying and delivering the food are similar to Uber drivers. Instacart is hiring 100 drivers, who are trained on how to pick the best fruits and vegetables.

Instacart is available in these zip codes: 93722, 93737, 93720, 93711, 93704, 93727, 93710, 93726, 93611, 93619, 93612, 93705, 93703, 93706, 93728, 93730, 93702, 93725, 93701, 93721, 93650.

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Now you can shop for groceries at Costco and other stores without leaving the house."