Where is this?
It’s two parking levels under the street at 605 Expo Boulevard (map here). It’s under the downtown Costco, which in turn is under two more levels of parking, which in turn is under the 900-unit Spectrum Towers – a part of the Concord Pacific development between the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts. Looks like a good set for some dystopian movie of an underground city – an updated THX 1138. (Look it up.)
But why is there an underground parkade at all? A typical Costco is in a stripped-down big box off a suburban interchange, surrounded by acres of asphalt. Costco doesn’t do urban.
Until here. This was the first, because the company was determined to get a foothold in the City of Vancouver, and was prepared to build it in a mixed-use development, tucked below grade next to the Stadium SkyTrain station. And it would charge to park there, even for its own customers!
The City wasn’t going to entertain new free-standing big boxes, nor could the land prices justify surface parking. Negotiations, as I remember them, were amicable. Vancouver welcomed a lower-priced alternative to the high-end grocery stores on the downtown peninsula, and Costco was willing to try something different.
You could say it was in 2006 that the Big Box was tamed – a precedent that was applied on the other side of the Cambie Bridge, where the slope between the two Canada Line stations is a conga line of large-format retailers in mixed-use complexes.
Here are some questions I’d love to have the answers to.
How profitable is this store? (Did it meet Costco’s expectations, and how does it compare in revenue to the standard store?)
Has Costco done this anywhere else – or is it a one-off?
And how do customers get there? Mythology would have it that people have to drive to a wholesaler. You can’t put 50 rolls of toilet paper in your paniers. Yet the bike rack is full, people do buy in backpack quantities and clearly come by SkyTrain. I wonder what their modal split is – and whether it’s changing head office’s assumptions.
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8 comments
I walk to this Costco and use my cart to carry everything back. The trick is to break things down prior to departure.
This Costco turns over a lot of business and people walk from all over to shop there. And the “getto” hot dog and drink just dropped by 25% in price to a $1.50!
I shop at this costco and use my bike to get my groceries home. Of course, I can’t fill my shopping cart to the rim, which is a good thing b/c it keeps me from buying what I don’t ‘need’. I also have a Modo car co-op membership, so I have occasionally used their Stadium Station car to take my goodies home. Life goes on!
There seems to be pervasive belief that a car is necessary to go grocery shopping. Yet the city has countless carless shoppers, so this is obviously a fallacy.
I have a car, but I still walk to my local grocery store with my folding shopping cart. One of the huge benefits of living in the city is having amenities such as grocery stores withing walking distance so that I can do this.
This is a very unique space. It wouldn’t otherwise get much walk-by traffic (other than maybe on game days), and it needs all artificial lighting.
I’ve described it as a “bunker” so it doesn’t work for typical downtown tenants. It almost has to be a warehouse or a warehouse-store (which Costco is). But I’m fairly certain this location does quite well.
I vaguely recall hearing that Costco now has a New York City store; I think it is by one of the main freeway-like arterials coming into Manhatten, so I don’t know how accessible it is by transit, bike, etc. I’ll see if I can find info.
It is a pretty good idea for stores to sell or rent folding shopping carts as a way to combat people from taking the carts off the lots instead of installing electronic brakes and circuits.
Walk!! LIke animals!?
Or move to Burnaby Heights in East Hastings. Most people walk for their food purchases.
Much like Fraser and 45th, or West Broadway in Kits.
I think to it is a bit of a fallacy that Costco is only for 8L jars of mustard and 50 rolls of TP. Sure you can stock up there, but if you need a good price on 3lbs of steak or 4l of milk, they also have that.
While it’s definitely not advisable during the afternoon peak (or if you’re trying to bring home a 36-pack of eggs), its proximity to Stadium Station makes arriving by transit a breeze.
Anecdotally, one thing I’ve also noticed compared to other Costco stores I’ve visited is that there are many more people buying a relatively small amount of merchandise – you still see people pushing shopping carts filled to the brim with jugs of milk, 50 rolls of TP or a 50″ TV, but there are also people buying only a handful of items which fit neatly into one or two shopping bags, a backpack, etc.