Costco, the membership-only warehouse club and the third-largest retailer behind Walmart and Amazon, will open its St. Augustine location off I-95, near Buc-ee’s, on Aug. 3. For diehard shoppers, the opening bell is 8 a.m.
The 162,785-square-foot store, announced two years ago, is opening on a 19-acre site at 655 World Commerce Parkway, about a 34-mile distance from the intersection of I-95 and Palm Coast Parkway. Until now, Flagler County shoppers’ Costco options were either at a warehouse at the south end of Jacksonville, about 65 miles away, or in Altamonte Springs, 70 miles away.
The club is planning a store even closer, on International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach, opening in 2024.
Issaquah, Washington-based Costco as of last August had 572 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, including 29 in Florida, 105 in Canada and 40 in Mexico. It also had 111 stores in nine other countries. Ordinary membership costs $60 a year. The company as of today has 116.6 million members from 64 million households worldwide. Over 90 percent of card-holders renew their membership annually. The company employees 195,000 full-time and part-time workers in the United States, and nearly 300,000 abroad.
Costco last October raised its minimum pay to $17 an hour, just a year after having raised pay to $16 an hour.
“Effective October 25, 2021, we will adjust the starting hourly wages for new employees in the U.S. to $17.00/hour for Service Assistants, $18.00/hour for Service Clerks and $18.50/hour for Meat Cutters,” the company stated in an internal memo reported by a South Florida news station. “Current U.S. employees making less than these rates will be moved up to these rates on their scales, and their goal hours will be reset. Please contact your GM or Payroll Clerk with any questions.”
“We continued to recognize and reward the exceptional performance of hourly employees in operations, extending the $2 per hour premium pay through February 2021,” it stated in its annual report. “Such action marked an entire year of providing premium pay for those employees who demonstrated outstanding service during an extraordinarily difficult and uncertain time. In March 2021, we permanently increased wages by $1 for hourly warehouse employees.”
Costco opened 12 new centers in the United States, four in Canada, three in Japan and one in Taiwan, expecting the pace to increase in fiscal 2022, the company’s 2021 annual report stated. “In fact as of today we have already opened 13 net new buildings in the new fiscal year.” (The report was issued on Aug. 29, 2021.)
Ray says
Who cares with the price of fuel, you won’t save a thing. Yes Publix is a rip-off.
David S. says
I guess your a rich one…..
Lorie says
I care. The price of fuel is coming down. St. Augustine will be alot closer
Ray says
Lorie, 70 plus miles and gas, and mileage on the car and the time you spend won’t save you a penny. Have fun with the drive!
Swiss-B says
Gas in Saint Augustine is cheaper than palm coast. Go check it out.
Dennis C Rathsam says
If you go once a month, get what you need, you will save money. Publix is a nice clean store, but item by item they rip you off! From frozen food to cereal everytings more money here. The only good thing is the bogo,s thats what I buy there, that & cold cuts. And besides, it good to get out of the house & spend a 1/2 day shopping, then have a nice lunch.
Mischa Gee says
I shop at Sam’s Club in Daytona and BJ’s in Port Orange. I usually gas up at BJ’s for the ride home and save some pennies on each gallon of gas.
I pay the Membership fees, knowing until I have saved the equivalent on purchases, I actually haven’t really saved. So far this has worked in my favor!
I just paid $45. 00 for my basic membership in Sam’s and I will shortly be paying for BJ’s. Adding another $60 for Costco is starting to make me wonder why these clubs don’t have more of a token membership fee of say $10/yr?
Sometimes their prices on items are the same as Publix, Winn Dixie, and Walmart. Which means in order to take full advantage of club prices you must always be aware of current grocery store prices, too. No wonder people are often frazzled.
Saving a few dollars means lots of research/homework to know what cost what, where! With all of this, on top of cleaning your home, paying bills, taking care of children and/or pets, keeping in touch visiting relatives and friends, and getting the sleep necessary to stay healthy, who has time to really know what is going on in local, state and national government.
No wonder people like Joe Mullins and D Trump can get elected! People aren’t paying attention to what these people do, they only hear what they think sounds good. Actions speak louder than words only if we pay attention!
Lorie L Robinson says
St. Augustine is not 70 miles from Palm Coast.
Dennis C Rathsam says
What on gods green earth has Trump have to do with it? What bizzaro word do you live in?
Mischa Gee says
I believe they meant round trip, and approximate depending on where you live in Palm Coast.
Mischa Gee says
If you read the whole statement, I spoke about how trying to save money by joining discount clubs has become a job. You can’t trust that you will actually save money. Often times the per pound or per item costs as much, and in some cases, more than your regular super market. In order to get the most milage out of your club membership you would need to research you products on multiple sites to see if they are being offered somewhere else at a sale price, which is just one more thing to add to reducing free time.
I then mentioned that people have little free time left in their lives when you add up all the pressures that they are under and how those pressures keep them from really knowing what’s going on in all levels of government. Might I add that the lack of access to extensive local and other news (the shrinking of and shuttering of newspapers) makes one somewhat out of touch with politics.
When one doesn’t have in depth knowledge of what’s going on, one relies on sound bites. They may mislead you, because you may hear something that sounds like what you want to hear, but doesn’t give you the full picture. In fact political sound bites are generally made that way on purpose.
Then to link politics to many of us who are exhausted by the running on the hamster wheel of life, I stated that is exactly what Trump and Mullins count on. One thing leads to another in life and often we are oblivious to the connections I made.
That is how Trump’s name came into this. You are entitled not to see what on God’s green earth using Trump and Mullins has to do with my statement.
I see a thread that runs through this and you don’t. That’s OK with me.
Michele G says
The person wrote Altamonte Springs is 70 miles away. Not St. Augustine.