If you were wondering when dirt was going to get to turning at Coit and North Central Expressway on the very first proposed Costco in Dallas proper, you’ll be waiting for a long, long time according to this report from DMN’s Maria Halkias. Apparently the price of the site owned by the Texas Department of Public Safety was too high, so Costco passed.
It’s just one more instance in which the warehouse retailer has shrugged off plans for store inside the Dallas city limits, and it has a bunch of Dallasites frustrated. First we got our hopes up over Costco execs sniffing around at the old Steakley Chevrolet location. Then it was the Coit and North Central Expressway site that got us excited. Obviously Dallas is ready for a Costco, but is Costco ready for Dallas?
Value is embedded in Costco’s DNA, the company says, so it won’t spend millions on legal battles or zoning fights like Sam’s Club did for the Cityplace store. Instead, Costo prefers to just wait for a good deal.
Brian Whelan, senior vice president of Northwest Atlantic Partners, the firm that Costco uses to help it locate new store sites in North America, said he’s aware that Dallas residents are waiting for him to find a spot, but declined to comment.
“Texas continues to be an important part of our expansion plans,” he said during a panel discussion at an event sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers in Dallas last week.
Dallas fits its criteria for opening a store, but the company feels no pressure to do it. It doesn’t matter that Dallas has the two groups he said Costco requires: an affluent customer base and lots of small businesses. Small businesses represent 50 percent of Costco’s sales.
Costco’s average store brings in $140 million to $150 million a year no matter where it opens it.
So, Costco isn’t looking for direct competition with Sam’s club, which might be why we’re seeing so many of them sprout up within the city limits. A market saturated with Sam’s won’t be attractive to Costco. Still, I feel like there’s still hope for us in Dallas that they will open up soon. Until then, we should just get comfortable with driving to Plano or Duncanville Cedar Hill for our Costco fix. Where do you think Costco should move in?
