I know that this is probably the most anticipated post I do each month, so hopefully at least a few people will be happy to read the good news that a Costco is coming to their area.  If I haven’t written about a location you’re curious about, or don’t have it on the Locations page list of New Locations, send me an email and I’ll see if I can find anything.

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

At the beginning of June, the city council in Guelph was finally going to hear about the proposed Costco location in the west end of the city.  In June the council heard the proposal to amend the zoning for a 13-hectare plot behind a development at the intersection of Imperial Road and Paisley Road that includes a large Zehrs supermarket.  The change in zoning is needed to build a 28,000-square-metre commercial development on the west side that would include a Costco, as well as other retail development, a gas station and possibly a “home improvement retail warehouse.”  If you are familiar with the area, you probably already know that this site is the former Mitchell Farm property and is bordered by Elmira Road to the east, Paisley Road to the south, rail tracks just south of Curzon Crescent to the north and agricultural property in Guelph Township to the west.  And if you’re one of the  more than 13,000 Guelph residents that is also a Costco member, I’ll bet you are thrilled at the prospect of a Costco opening in your town.  Unfortunately, the council did not make any decisions in the early June meeting, and I haven’t been able to find any follow up.  If all goes well, the hope is that the new Costco location could be open by Fall 2013.

• GuelphMercury.com: Guelph councillor hails plans for Costco store

Drummondville, Québec, Canada

Final details were settled in the last few days for a new Costco location in Dummondville.  The store will be 126,000 square feet and be part of a retail development that also includes Toys ‘R’ Us, Winners and Michael’s.  It is believed that infrastructure work will begin in the next week or so and if all goes well, the new location should open by the end of 2012.  It looks like the new location will be built at Rose-Hellis and Robert-Bernard streets, near the entrance to the city of  Drummondville.  I could only find this one little news article about this new location, so it doesn’t have much information. Also, it is in French and so that hampers things a bit (my French is pretty lousy but luckily Google’s is better).

• Yahoo News Quebec: Costco comes to Drummondville

Yorktown, New York

Costco is hoping to bring a new location to Yorktown in late fall 2013.  The proposal is for a 151,000 square foot warehouse as well as a gas station.  The site they are hoping to build on sounds like a good candidate to me since it seems like it must be a bit of an eyesore in the community at present.  The new warehouse would be built on an 18.75-acre site that currently houses an abandoned motel, a former gas station, nursery and two homes.  The site is located along Route 202 and this has caused some worry from residents.  However, Costco and NY DOT plan to do some work in the area to alleviate traffic issues.  The DOT will be spending $5 million road improvements at Pine Grove Court and Route 202 and Costco would be spending more than $2 million for traffic signals, additional lanes and a sidewalk.  In addition to the road improvements, the developer is also proposing a new sewer system for the area and will paying for the installation and connections to existing homes on Old Crompond Road.  If Costco is developed in Yorktown, officials said it would generate $600,000 in school taxes, $88,000 in town taxes and $9 million in county and state sales tax revenue. Costco also contributes back 1 percent of pre-tax dollars to the community in which each store is located – which is estimated to be $1.5 million for Yorktown.  That is in addition to the 350 construction jobs that would be created to get the new location built and then 200 permanent jobs at the warehouse.  There is expected to be a public hearing on the project in September and then the planning commission will have to make their final approval before the new Costco can become a reality.

• Yorktown Patch:  Costco Reps: ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ to Open in 2013, Store to Bring Jobs, Traffic Improvements

Napa, California

Well, there is a bit of hope that Napa Valley could become home to a new Costco location, if the plans can get approved.  The new store would be part of a much bigger project called the Napa Pipe.  Which, sounds really nice to me.  The whole project will be built on a 154 acre site that is just south of Napa and running along the Napa River.  The project is for a walkable city design that will include ground floor retail sites, town homes and condos, a business park, a 10 acre school site, plus an 8 acre community farm.  The addition of a Costco location is new to the plans and will be built on an area that is currently set for industrial/commercial development next to the business park.  This is a great solution for Costco since they have been searching for an appropriate site to serve the current 27,000 Napa residents that are Costco members.  This will keep all of those people from driving to locations in neighbouring cities, not to mention it would provide a number of jobs and sales tax income for the county.  Just from reading the comments on the article, I’m going to bet there will be a big fight about this; maybe with or without the Costco.

• Napa Valley Register:  New Napa Pipe plans include Costco, school site, farm

Hanford, California

Currently this is just a rumor, but it might be that Costco is looking at building a new warehouse on the east side of Hanford.  Apparently, there have been plans submitted for a new big-box “discount club” the size of a Costco store with a gas station but they don’t actually claim that the plans are for a Costco.  The possible Costco is part of a new mixed-use development project on a 58 acre piece of farmland on East Lacey Boulevard on the northwest corner of Highway 198 and Highway 43. The project will consist of a total of 498,624 square feet of retail space, including two anchors and several major stores and restaurants, as well as a space that could accommodate either a 200-unit apartment complex or more stores.  This is still in the very early stages of planning, with the city just starting the impact studies.  The 30 day public review period on the notice began on June 3 and will close at 5 p.m. on July 3; all comments must be received by the city before the deadline.  This is still a long, long way from a done deal, so we’ll just have to see how the impact studies and planning process go.

Hanford Sentinel:  Is Costco finally coming to Hanford?

New Orleans, Louisiana

Well, the proposed Costco in New Orleans got past the city planning commission at their recent meeting.  Just to update those of you that might not be aware, the new Costco will be built in the Carrollton area.   Of course, it didn’t go totally smoothly, because planning never does.  The commission has a few provisos that Costco objects to, but I’m sure it will all get ironed out.  Costco is hoping to start construction on the new $40 million warehouse by the end of the year with the opening date being sometime in summer 2013.  The site is on an abandoned shopping center across from Xavier University.  One of the issues that the planning commission had was with the number of parking spaces.  They want to limit the store to just 499 parking spaces, which is far fewer than the 750 spaces that Costco prefers for a store of this size.  But Costco is willing to only have 670 parking spaces.  The commission also wants to have two pedestrian pathways through the parking lot, but Costco maintains that the wider driving lanes and larger parking spots make their parking lots easier/safer to walk through.  The commission would also like flower beds around the food court, which Costco sees as a problem for their large shopping carts.  There are a couple of other provisos that the planning commission would like but they’re nothing major and in the interest of getting some new development in the area, I’m pretty sure that the city council will want to get this project approved and moving along.  Not to mention, I think this seems far less contentious than some of the recent projects that Costco has had in other areas of the country.

• The Great New Orleans Time-Picayune:  Costco store passes muster with New Orleans planning panel, with a few caveats

Holiday Closures and Hours for July 2012

Costco US:
Independence Day: Wednesday, July 4, 2012 CLOSED

Costco Canada:
Canada Day: Sunday, July 1st CLOSED. Exceptions: Provinces of Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario which are OPEN.
Canada Day Observed: Monday, July 2nd OPEN. Exceptions:Provinces of Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario which are CLOSED.

Costco Korea:
This isn’t really a holiday closure, but just so you know, Costco locations in Korea will now be CLOSED on the second and fourth Sunday of each month.

If I didn’t list holiday closures for the Costco in your country, it is probably because they are not listed. Or, in the case of Mexico, my Spanish isn’t good enough to figure out if I’m missing something or not.