BIG BOX RETAIL MOVES EAST
New Costco brighter, more spacious
Darren Danylchuk remembers starting work as a stocker at the old Costco store when it opened in 1993.
“I was there for Day 1, almost, of the old building,” said Danylchuk. “At that time, there was nothing around the building. Costco stood by itself and everything built around it.”
The same was true of Regina’s new Costco store, which opened Friday morning to great fanfare.
After a ribbon-cutting ceremony around 7:30 a.m., employees and a few dignitaries applauded the steady stream of more than 200 shoppers who had lined up.
Linda Murray was among those shoppers.
“I think I was first in the parking lot. I was here at 10 after 6 ... I just like to be first in everything I do,” Murray explained.
Since moving to Regina from Edmonton last year, where there are five big Costco stores, the old Regina location at Victoria Avenue and University Park Drive took some getting used to.
“It was kind of a bit of a shock to come to a tiny (Costco),” said Murray. “I think we’ve had a really small store for quite a while, and I think this offers a lot more opportunities for shopping, and I think it’s just a really great idea.”
The new Costco, in far-east Regina off the new Aurora Boulevard, is markedly different from the old one. It’s brighter and more spacious.
There are 295 more parking stalls, for a total 845. The gas station is twice the size and in a separate area of the parking lot.
There are four additional tills and a “split centre” with three access points to reach the cashiers.
“Just more choices,” said Kevin Vanstone, the store’s general manager for five years.
There are 300 new items in store, including 100 food items.
“About 100 of them are food items because we didn’t have a lot of space for those,” added Vanstone.
Now there’s a walk-in dairy cooler for milk and eggs. The walk-in produce cooler is larger than the one in the old store.
“Everything is bigger, it’s better, can’t complain about that,” said Danylchuk, who explored the new store Friday morning before his shift in the tire department.
Because the old store was originally a Price Club, “all the different departments that moved in over the years, the building wasn’t designed for it,” said Danylchuk. “The coolers and freezers had to be moved several times because it wasn’t an original fit. … The optical department moved at least three times, photo had to move three or four times over the years. So now everything ’s in one set place.”
There are also more employees: Almost 100 new full- and part-time jobs were created.
For the past three months, staff members have been running the old store, while setting up the new one.
“A lot of planning. That was the challenging part, having people to run that place and still serve our members while we’re trying to build this,” said Vanstone.
The old Costco store, at a corner of University Park Drive near Victoria Avenue, closed at 5 p.m. on Thursday.
“There was a bunch of tears,” said Vanstone. “We had 27 employees who opened that building originally when it was a Price Club, so there were lots of tears through the day.”
“I had mixed feelings. It was like home. I will have to say, I did cry the last day,” Gail Butz said with a laugh.
As a 12-year employee, she’s a familiar face at the Regina Costco doors, checking membership cards or receipts as people enter or exit the store.
The old store was “so small, and this is just fabulous. It’s just going to be so wonderful for our members to have so much more space and product and stuff,” she added.
“It’s a good feeling to have a new space.”
It’s good news for the Regina economy, too, in the estimation of Mayor Michael Fougere and Regina Chamber of Commerce CEO John Hopkins, who both attended the store’s grand opening.
“The thing about a Costco or something like this, is it’s an anchor. So now that there’s an anchor here in place, what it’ll probably do is drive some other sales,” said Hopkins. “Some other (businesses) will want to be here because people are coming from all over the province to come to this Costco.”
“Costco has decided to expand because they know the market is here,” Fougere added.
“They service about half a million people in our market area, in southern Saskatchewan … so this is a reflection of growth. So you’re going to see more retail development happen here, and because of that more residential development as well in the future.”
While the new Costco opened for 8 a.m. on its first day, regular store hours resume Saturday.
Though it’s a common sight at shiny new Costco stores, there is no Costco Liquor store in Aurora — yet.
“I’m not involved in that process, but cross our fingers,” said Vanstone.