Plans for a new Costco Wholesale store in Southampton
7 September 2010
Costco Wholesale is in the process of preparing a planning application to develop a wholesale warehouse club in Southampton. The proposed warehouse will be located on a section of the current British American Tobacco site with access off Regents Park Road.
Costco Wholesale is a membership warehouse club, which was created to serve the needs of the small to medium sized business owner who is typically forced to pay a premium for purchases from traditional wholesale distributors and who cannot otherwise obtain their full range of product needs from a single source. At Costco Wholesale, businesses can purchase products at wholesale prices, which are significantly lower than those of traditional sources of distribution.
Costco will provide at least 160 well paid jobs at opening, rising to at least 250 within three years of opening. The company provides local people with a broad range of quality jobs that reflect the unique nature of Costco’s operation. Positions range from unskilled jobs which provide a point of entry for those who had little or no qualifications or training; to craft and operative jobs for which specialist training is given. The Warehouse will also require a number of supervisory and management positions. 85% of Costco's current managers have worked their way up through the business from hourly paid positions.
Southampton is an area in which Costco has been looking for a site for many years. The proposed location is within a large regional centre that houses a significant number of small to medium sized businesses that would benefit from the wholesale products on offer at Costco. Research has also demonstrated that a large amount of existing spend by Southampton local businesses currently flows to Costco's existing warehouses, which are situated some distance away (Croydon and Reading are the nearest existing warehouses).
Costco seeks to engage the local authorities early in the warehouse development process to gain a full understanding of the employment needs that are specific to this part of the Southampton area. Costco accepts that all locations have specific areas in need of employment targeting opportunities. Costco will therefore endeavour to work with the local authority to identify the particular employment characteristics and needs of the locality.
In order to engage with local stakeholders on their plans in Southampton, Costco has organised two public exhibitions which are being held at:
Venue: Thompson Memorial Hall, Testwood Road, Freemantle, SO15 8RL
Dates: Thursday 9 September 2010 between 3:30pm and 7:00pm and Saturday 11 September 2010 between 9:30am and 12:30pm
Costco is very keen to understand the views of local businesses and will therefore be providing further information on the scheme to Invest in Southampton as it progresses towards submission of a planning application to the City Council’s Planning Department.
A planning application is likely to be submitted to the City Council in Autumn 2010, following the satisfactory completion of the consultation process. Subject to the planning application gaining approval, it is anticipated that the store would open for business in 2012.
For further information on Costco’s proposals in Southampton:
Contact:costcoinfo@rpsgroup.com
