Posted May 27, 2010, 6:53 PM
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Development: New store will draw people into city, mayor says
SAINT JOHN - Atlantic Canada's largest Costco store opens its doors today. It's a retail project that's been more than a decade in the making.
Widescreen televisions are ready and waiting for shoppers who will stream through the doors at Costco on opening day today.
The shelves of Costco are stacked and ready for today’s big opening. The big-box store on the east side is Atlantic Canada’s Costco store and is 142 square feet in area.
Products galore fill the shelves at the Costco at East Point Shopping. Costco officials say they are expecting a huge crowd today.
The 142,000-square-foot store on the city's east side will be a mecca for people who want good prices, says Mayor Ivan Court, who plans to wear his royal robes and solid gold chain of office to the ribbon-cutting this morning.
"I expect people from St. Stephen, from Fredericton and from Sussex will all be drawn to Saint John," he said Wednesday, adding he already has an executive $100 membership.
"When they're in town, they'll be going to our restaurants, going to our stores, probably shopping in other businesses in the east side of the city."
Employees were putting finishing touches on displays and making sure the store looked its best Wednesday afternoon in preparations for a VIP event later in the evening, said Gary Swindells, Costco's vice-president of regional operations.
"It's been so many weeks of preparing," he said over the phone. "Finally we get to offer the product that everybody's been waiting for. It feels good. I'm anxious to open the doors."
Lorelle Gilpin, Costco's vice-president of marketing, has made the trip from Costco Canada's head office in Ottawa to prepare for the grand opening.
"We're expecting a huge crowd. We think sales will be terrific," Gilpin said of today's grand opening.
"We've got really good indications from the people who are currently members and from the new members that they're looking forward to shopping opening day."
The store has already sold around 5,000 memberships, he said, with the aim of eventually selling up to 40,000.
Annual business memberships cost $50. It costs $55 for a gold star membership and $100 for executive.
After a massive job fair in March, the store hired about 130 employees from the Saint John area. Another 72 workers were transferred from other stores.
For Bob Manning, the chairman of Enterprise Saint John, the store opening is just another indicator the city is moving in the right direction.
"A retailer of this size and scope would not pick to locate its largest facility in Atlantic Canada in a community like the greater Saint John region without having done their due diligence and making sure this was a community on the rise," he said.
"It's a sign that says what we're doing in this region is paying dividends."
It also means shoppers will be drawn to Saint John, which has the largest square-footage of retail space in New Brunswick, he said.
And for Manning - a father of five children under the age of 16 - a Costco will be a big help.
When he lived in New Jersey, Manning said his Costco membership paid for itself in diapers and baby wipes.
"When I moved back to this region, our family was quite disappointed there wasn't a Costco. It really suits what we need as a large family."
Selling everything from fresh meat and produce to electronics and appliances, East Point Shopping's anchor store is expected to be a draw for many more families across the province.
East Point developer Troy Northrup said the first time he spoke to Costco officials about coming to Saint John was in 1997. Since then, he's worked with several politicians and business officials to attract the retail giant.
"It's going to be a really exciting day for southern New Brunswick and the province," he said Wednesday about the store opening.
"This is a great example of a community working together for an end goal."
The Saint John Costco is 25,000 square feet bigger than the one in Moncton. It's the centrepiece of Northrup's development, which started in 2006, carved out of the side of a rugged hill of shale and quartz.
Swindells said a Costco for Fredericton is already in the works.
"It's in the plan, but right now there's stuff that needs to be happening with the city of Fredericton," he said.
With files from Karissa Donkin
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I will be surprised if we dont see an IKEA in Halifax in the next 15 years.
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