Construction is well underway for the new Winnipeg West Costco location, which will be part of the larger Westport Festival development near Assiniboia Downs. It is rumored to be replacing the Costco on St. James, which will be converted into a Costco Business Centre.
As with IKEA when it began construction years ago, Costco executives have realized that the space they are building for their store near Assiniboia Downs is not big enough. It isn’t. At 166,000 square feet, the issue isn’t so much the store size but the loading area and parking lot. It appears that another acre just north of the Costco is being made available for the store.
Adding parking space is nothing new. Costco Kenaston has had parking added twice, both in the front and back. It has helped but not enough. Hence, the new store. The situation will likely become more complicated when the St. James Costco is converted into a Costco Business Centre. The store will be more focused on supplying hotels, convenience stores, and restaurants than serving family shoppers. This will likely lead family shoppers to head to Kenaston or the new Wesport Festival location instead.
Make no mistake, a Business Centre fills a need and could help divert businesses that typically shop at regular Costcos. However, the city likely needs four regular Costcos, all with gas stations. We’ll have to settle for three, as zoning for a Costco—even where there is available space—can take a decade to approve. Ultimately, it will be up to Costco to decide. They probably would prefer to be just outside Winnipeg, but Walmart has already tried this. It depends on Winnipeg’s road access, and most municipalities are unwilling to build the highway infrastructure needed to make it feasible. Additionally, Winnipeg is unlikely to allow a road within city boundaries to be overused by traffic servicing a Costco that doesn’t contribute taxes to the city to maintain it.
For all these reasons, Costco is looking to expand the west Portage Avenue location to the right size to serve a very large section of the city. They’ll need a lot of parking—more than the 900 spaces already listed. Traffic lights and turning lanes will also be necessary to accommodate the massive amount of traffic.
Costco is just the first part of a much larger commercial development in that area. Since it is still within Winnipeg’s boundaries, it will be a boon for taxation and will also lead to significant housing development. What will be needed, however, is bus transport. The Costco construction is continuing, so expect it to open later this year.
This has been a guest editorial by John Dobbin.
To read more from John, visit his blog Observations, Reservations, Conversations.
