diff --git a/storage/remote/client.go b/storage/remote/client.go
index adfb9910d9..ae42e99235 100644
--- a/storage/remote/client.go
+++ b/storage/remote/client.go
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ type recoverableError struct {
 }
 
 // Store sends a batch of samples to the HTTP endpoint.
-func (c *Client) Store(req *prompb.WriteRequest) error {
+func (c *Client) Store(ctx context.Context, req *prompb.WriteRequest) error {
 	data, err := proto.Marshal(req)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ func (c *Client) Store(req *prompb.WriteRequest) error {
 	httpReq.Header.Add("Content-Encoding", "snappy")
 	httpReq.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/x-protobuf")
 	httpReq.Header.Set("X-Prometheus-Remote-Write-Version", "0.1.0")
+	httpReq = httpReq.WithContext(ctx)
 
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), c.timeout)
 	defer cancel()
diff --git a/storage/remote/client_test.go b/storage/remote/client_test.go
index b0b93aad84..31f23cbb85 100644
--- a/storage/remote/client_test.go
+++ b/storage/remote/client_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 package remote
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ func TestStoreHTTPErrorHandling(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}
 
-		err = c.Store(&prompb.WriteRequest{})
+		err = c.Store(context.TODO(), &prompb.WriteRequest{})
 		if !reflect.DeepEqual(err, test.err) {
 			t.Errorf("%d. Unexpected error; want %v, got %v", i, test.err, err)
 		}
diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
index 19ee53afcc..780a3689a7 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 package remote
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"math"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ func init() {
 // external timeseries database.
 type StorageClient interface {
 	// Store stores the given samples in the remote storage.
-	Store(*prompb.WriteRequest) error
+	Store(context.Context, *prompb.WriteRequest) error
 	// Name identifies the remote storage implementation.
 	Name() string
 }
@@ -376,6 +377,8 @@ type shards struct {
 	queues  []chan *model.Sample
 	done    chan struct{}
 	running int32
+	ctx     context.Context
+	cancel  context.CancelFunc
 }
 
 func (t *QueueManager) newShards(numShards int) *shards {
@@ -383,11 +386,14 @@ func (t *QueueManager) newShards(numShards int) *shards {
 	for i := 0; i < numShards; i++ {
 		queues[i] = make(chan *model.Sample, t.cfg.Capacity)
 	}
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	s := &shards{
 		qm:      t,
 		queues:  queues,
 		done:    make(chan struct{}),
 		running: int32(numShards),
+		ctx:     ctx,
+		cancel:  cancel,
 	}
 	return s
 }
@@ -403,15 +409,21 @@ func (s *shards) start() {
 }
 
 func (s *shards) stop(deadline time.Duration) {
+	// Attempt a clean shutdown.
 	for _, shard := range s.queues {
 		close(shard)
 	}
-
 	select {
 	case <-s.done:
+		return
 	case <-time.After(deadline):
 		level.Error(s.qm.logger).Log("msg", "Failed to flush all samples on shutdown")
 	}
+
+	// Force a unclean shutdown.
+	s.cancel()
+	<-s.done
+	return
 }
 
 func (s *shards) enqueue(sample *model.Sample) bool {
@@ -455,6 +467,9 @@ func (s *shards) runShard(i int) {
 
 	for {
 		select {
+		case <-s.ctx.Done():
+			return
+
 		case sample, ok := <-queue:
 			if !ok {
 				if len(pendingSamples) > 0 {
@@ -502,7 +517,7 @@ func (s *shards) sendSamplesWithBackoff(samples model.Samples) {
 	for retries := s.qm.cfg.MaxRetries; retries > 0; retries-- {
 		begin := time.Now()
 		req := ToWriteRequest(samples)
-		err := s.qm.client.Store(req)
+		err := s.qm.client.Store(s.ctx, req)
 
 		sentBatchDuration.WithLabelValues(s.qm.queueName).Observe(time.Since(begin).Seconds())
 		if err == nil {
diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
index b2b2804d38..82169899fc 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 package remote
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"reflect"
 	"sync"
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ func (c *TestStorageClient) waitForExpectedSamples(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func (c *TestStorageClient) Store(req *prompb.WriteRequest) error {
+func (c *TestStorageClient) Store(_ context.Context, req *prompb.WriteRequest) error {
 	c.mtx.Lock()
 	defer c.mtx.Unlock()
 	count := 0
@@ -211,9 +212,12 @@ func NewTestBlockedStorageClient() *TestBlockingStorageClient {
 	}
 }
 
-func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) Store(_ *prompb.WriteRequest) error {
+func (c *TestBlockingStorageClient) Store(ctx context.Context, _ *prompb.WriteRequest) error {
 	atomic.AddUint64(&c.numCalls, 1)
-	<-c.block
+	select {
+	case <-c.block:
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -301,3 +305,26 @@ func TestSpawnNotMoreThanMaxConcurrentSendsGoroutines(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Saw %d concurrent sends, expected 1", numCalls)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestShutdown(t *testing.T) {
+	deadline := 10 * time.Second
+	c := NewTestBlockedStorageClient()
+	m := NewQueueManager(nil, config.DefaultQueueConfig, nil, nil, c, deadline)
+	for i := 0; i < config.DefaultQueueConfig.MaxSamplesPerSend; i++ {
+		m.Append(&model.Sample{
+			Metric: model.Metric{
+				model.MetricNameLabel: model.LabelValue(fmt.Sprintf("test_metric_%d", i)),
+			},
+			Value:     model.SampleValue(i),
+			Timestamp: model.Time(i),
+		})
+	}
+	m.Start()
+
+	start := time.Now()
+	m.Stop()
+	duration := time.Now().Sub(start)
+	if duration > deadline+(deadline/10) {
+		t.Errorf("Took too long to shutdown: %s > %s", duration, deadline)
+	}
+}