B.C.’s first Costco Business Centre officially opened this past Friday, and it is gigantic.
Daily Hive made a trip to the historic Costco location and stepped inside the freakishly huge and chillingly cold cooler.
Last week, we reported on the opening of the New Westminster location, and the media release highlighted the “impressively large” cooler.
While the freezer is indeed impressively large, the scale of the Costco itself makes other locations seem small, as do some of the products, like a gigantic Parmesan cheese wheel that many tried to lift but failed to do so.
Amir Ali/Daily Hive
Located in the Queensborough District of New Westminster, at 1085 Tanaka Crt., the Costco Business Centre is a massive 146,000 sq. ft. As Costco mentioned in its opening announcement, Costco Business Centre locations are catered to businesses like restaurants, convenience stores, and offices.
Amir Ali/Daily Hive
You’ll find large commercial-grade appliances and similar items you won’t find at a regular Costco.
Amir Ali/Daily Hive
Anyone with a regular Costco membership is permitted, and the business centre still has sections selling items you’d find at a regular Costco, like the sign above the entrance proclaims.
Amir Ali/Daily Hive
Costco touted the size of its “impressively large” cooler, which is 14,000 sq. ft. It’s way bigger than the produce section you’ll find at any regular Costco.
The cooler is huge. (Amir Ali/Daily Hive)
Way bigger than a regular Costco cooler. (Amir Ali/Daily Hive)
The business centre also has its own fleet of trucks and offers next-day delivery within a designated delivery zone.
The one part of the experience that may frustrate some customers is the traffic and parking situation. We visited the Costco Business Centre on Saturday, and local police officers were dispatched to the area to direct traffic.
After travelling down Westminster Highway (or Boyd Street), drivers were advised to take Gifford Street to enter, and there were several traffic bottlenecks along the way.
MS Bing
The business centre is also located next to a massive Value Village and other busy retailers, and parking was not easy to come by.
There was a bit of conversation about the traffic and parking chaos on social media.
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Costco is offering customers some limited-time promotions during the opening week, including:
- $100 off a 25 kg block of Agropur unsalted butter
- $50 off a Panasonic automatic commercial rice cooker
- $25 off per unit of San Daniele prosciutto
- $20 off a 16-litre tub of Hellmann’s real mayonnaise