Seattle-based retail giant Costco Wholesale is continuing with its strategy of opening new warehouses in communities that had older format stores in Canada, with the newest location opening in Kelowna BC.
The store at 2125 Baron Road is over 24 percent larger than the previous location and is increasing the overall scale of the operation in categories across the table.
“With the opening of this new warehouse, we can serve all of our members in the Kelowna and surrounding area and can bring new consumers and businesses to uncover the benefits of a Costco membership,” said Pierre Riel, Senior Vice-President and Country Manager, Costco Wholesale Canada. “We are very proud to share this new location with our valued members and member businesses in the local community and throughout the area.”
Kelowna was named the fastest growing Census Metropolitan Area in Canada according to Statistics Canada, which released the 2021 Census data from last week. The population grew from 194,892 in 2016 to 222,162 in 2021 – an increase of 14%.
“We are thrilled about the Costco Wholesale Kelowna relocation,” said Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran. “The upgraded Costco has created valuable employment opportunities for the region, and will strengthen the local economy by offering a wider selection of goods and services to our residents and visitors.”
The brand provided a full breakdown of the location, which “features wider aisles and a larger selection of food offerings than in the past. It also includes a larger variety of specialty departments, such as an on-site bakery, fresh meat, expanded produce area, rotisserie chicken section, optical centre – including an on-site independent optometrist – a newly-introduced hearing aid centre, five tire centre bays, large food court, gas station with 24 pumps, propane station and an expanded pharmacy. With 14 checkout registers, a new self-checkout section with nine stations and 1,000 shopping carts, the warehouse features 871 parking spots – 246 spots more than the former Kelowna location.”
Costco Wholesale has been introducing the new store concepts for relocations across the country, including a 155,000 square foot location in Montreal that opened in October. The brand has also been expanding its footprint of Business Centre concept stores, with three new stores debuting in 2021 in Gloucester and St. Catherines in Ontario and in Edmonton. Those stores joined the the original location in Scarborough which opened in 2017 and Saint-Hubert in Fall 2020.
The warehouses are open to members only, with an annual fee of $60 for a Business Membership or $60 for a Gold Star Membership.
The retailer currently operates 817 warehouses worldwide and 105 warehouses across Canada. The first Costco Wholesale location opened in Burnaby, BC in October 1985 and has since grown to an organization that employs more than 40,000 people in Canada.
Canada has a higher concentration of Costco stores than the United States per capita, speaking to the success of the Canadian market for the retailer.
