UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — The fourth Costco store in the St. Louis region opened Tuesday at 8685 Olive Blvd., part of the $211 million Market at Olive redevelopment at Interstate 170 and Olive Boulevard.
As with Costco's three other St. Louis-area stores, the 16-acre University City location will have a gas station and tire center. The new gas station affiliated with the store opened Monday, said Kayla Campillo, regional marketing manager for the retailer.
Here are five things to know about the opening of Costco’s newest store.
- The store will open early Tuesday to accommodate an expected larger volume of shoppers. For the store’s first day, the Costco will open its doors at 8 a.m. and close at 8:30 p.m. The store’s regular hours will kick in Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
- Some of the merchandise stocked the first day will be hard-to-find, in-demand items. The new store will be stocked with what Costco calls "spice" goods -- in-demand merchandise that will be available at the store because it's new, like the PS5 and XBox game consoles that are hard to find at other stores ahead of the holiday season, Campillo said. Aside from those items, the merchandise will be the same as at any Costco store.
- The new location is the same size as other St. Louis Costco stores. The newest Costco will be 151,000 square feet, near the top of the retailer’s warehouse size range of 70,000 to 165,000 square feet.
- For those new to Costco, the retailer has some unique practices. Costco is a membership-based warehouse, so if you're not already a member, in order to shop at the U City location you will have to sign up for one of the three levels of membership, starting at $60 a year.
- Costco projected this store as far back as the 1990s. When the retailer announced its plans to build its first store in St. Louis in 1999, broker Rick Randall of Pace Properties said the company saw St. Louis as a three- to four-store region. University City is the fourth store.
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