An entire section will disappear from all Costco stores across the US within weeks

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Costco shoppers are about to see an entire section disappear from all stores.

From January, the wholesale retailer will stop stocking books all year round. 

The company announced the change in June, throwing in the towel in its long-running battle with Amazon over book selling. 

The retailer had been in a battle with the tech giant since it began selling books online in 1995. 

It means that after the holidays, shoppers will see the layout off stores redesigned without a dedicated book section. 

Books have already been removed from the shelves of stores in Alaska and Hawaii, with other states following suit come January. 

The retailer will now only stock books during the holiday period from September to December, with occasional sales in the remainder of the year. 

Costco claimed the move away from books is due to the cost of staffing required to stock them, according to executives. 

The extra labor compared to other products comes from the time it takes to lay out books every Tuesday as new ones are released, as well as return unsold copies to publishing houses.  

Given its scale, Costco would often order tens of thousands of copies of a book it was stocking. 

For major best sellers, it could stock hundreds of thousands of copies per title. 

The move comes as a blow to publishers who are battling stagnant sales while increasing numbers of customers are buying books online from sites such as Amazon.

'Costco across the country was a big outlet for books,' Robert Gottlieb, chair of Trident Media Group, told The New York Times earlier this year.

'There are now fewer and fewer places to buy books in a retail environment,' he explained. 

'It's an easy place to just grab the latest in a series you're reading or pick up a book for your kid,' Brenna Connor, the director of US books at Circana told the outlet.

This comes as Costco has begun cracking down on its membership policy and enforcing a card scan with identification before being allowed entry. 

The retailer announced earlier this year that scanning devices will be placed in all warehouses, and they have already been spotted in a number of locations. 

'Additionally, if your membership card does not have a photo, please be prepared to show your valid photo ID. We encourage you to stop by the membership counter to have a photo taken to have on your card,' a statement from Costco read. 

Those hoping to shop will now need to be accompanied by a member instead of simply holding the card - meaning parents could no longer send their kids on a Costco run on their own. 

Previously, customers walking into their local Costco weren't necessarily stopped by an employee to check if they were a member.

The wholesale retailer also upped its membership prices in September for the first time in seven years. 

The standard membership increased by $5, taking it from $60 to $65 a year.