Costco Encouraged Not To Move

Sep 19, 2018 | 3:16 PM

Update

Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran is countering opponent Tom Dyas’s claim the city hasn’t done enough to ensure Costco doesn’t move to West Kelowna.

The company says it needs more space and wants to open a gas bar.

Basran says the city met with Costco months ago and city staff are working to help Costco find a new site in Kelowna.

He says Dyas is grandstanding on the issue, and just looking for headlines.

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A Kelowna mayoralty candidate is urging Costco not to make any hasty decisions to move its Kelowna store.

Costco has outgrown its current site on Highway 97 and wants to build a larger store with a gas bar.

Tom Dyas says moving the store to West Kelowna, would cost Kelowna significant tax revenue, and he’s asking company officials to wait until after the October 20th elections to discuss alternatives.

“I would like to invite you back to Kelowna, or alternatively, if I am successful in being elected as Kelowna’s Mayor I would go to your head office in Washington to discuss alternatives within our community, as I do believe we could do better in finding a solution,” Dyas says in a letter to the company.

Dyas says the store has 90,000 members, pays hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes, and provides about 200 jobs.

He says Costco met with city officials earlier, but did not receive a warm welcome, and were requested to change their distribution model and look at a store with two floors.

“I can truly appreciate that a $126 Billion dollar business with 514 stores worldwide, generating an approximate average of $163 Million US dollars per store has a distribution model that is tried, tested and true,” says Dyas in the letter provided to media.

by Corey Fischer