Costco fans will be excited by possible new Windsor location, group organizer says
A developer has applied to the city for a planning change to allow a development that looks like a Costco
The founder of a Costco Windsor Facebook fan group with more than 37,000 members says she believes fans like her are going to be excited if the retail giant confirms a new location in Windsor.
Sheena Wilson says she loves Costco.
"I mean, that place has everything," said Wilson, whose group is called Costco Windsor Mama.
"I love that every week that I go, there's always new finds, new sales, the price adjustments, the discounts. You can't beat it."
Rumours have swirled for months that a parcel of land at the end of Catherine Street might soon be home to a new Costco location.
On Monday, Windsor's development and heritage standing committee will review a request to amend the city's official plan to make way for what appears to be one, though it's far from official.
Documents submitted to city depict 'Costco prototype'
Rock Developments East Windsor Inc. has applied to the city to allow commercial development on the vacant lands at 6412 and 6560 Tecumseh Road East and 0 Catherine Street.
In a memo to the mayor and city councillors, planner Adam Szymczak describes phase one of the proposed development as consisting of a 15,071 square metre building with a gas bar, followed by a second building in phase two.
All buildings would be one storey, and the development would include a total of 1,385 parking spaces.
A planning rationale report submitted to the city in December by Pillon Abbs on behalf of Rock Developments contains a drawing of the proposed retail space, which resembles a Costco location and describes the red colour on a wall stripe as "Costco Red."
The words "Costco prototype" are also hidden in the document in the same colour as the background colour.
Costco itself has not confirmed a new Windsor location, saying it only confirms new locations within three months of their opening.
Wilson said she's not sure if Windsor needs a second Costco but it definitely needs one that's bigger than the current Walker Road location and one with a bigger parking lot.
"I feel like I'm a sardine in there in a can when I'm walking around there sometimes," she said.
She avoids going on weekends, she said, because it takes her 10 minutes to find a parking space, and the store is jammed.
Instead she goes every Monday after work and spends about two and a half hours taking pictures for her group of new items, unadvertised sales and clearance items.
People will often reply to her posts with questions about what's in stock, and she'll try to answer them.
Fan would love to see more selection
Wilson would love to see a store with more room for a greater variety of items, she said, particularly since the decision to carry alcohol meant reducing the rest of the product range.
And she said she's anxious to see what happens to the location on Walker Road.
She plans to do a post to her group when news of a new store is confirmed, she said.
"I don't think they're going to let us know until three months before," Wilson said, "which kind of sucks.... I think people are going to be excited about it."