Costco ramps up expansion plans

My city does not have a Costco, and local message boards feature endless speculation about whether we might get one.

The city of Port St. Lucie actually addressed the speculation on its website.

"For many years, residents have consistently named Costco Wholesale as one of their top retail requests in Port St. Lucie - and now, that long-awaited wish is a step closer to becoming a reality," it shared.

The city has sold Costco a site adjacent to a Costco Distribution Depot currently under construction for $6 million. The new Costco retail location would include a 170,000-square-foot store and a gas station.

"Our residents have been asking for a Costco for years, and we heard them loud and clear," said Mayor Shannon M. Martin. "Bringing this store to the community has been a priority, and our team worked hard to make it happen."

That's a scene that many cities wish to repeat, as Costco has always been very selective in its expansion choices. The warehouse club, however, has good news for hopeful communities as it recently shared a commitment to growing its warehouse base.

Costco shares warehouse expansion plans

Costco has a long-range plan to grow its warehouse base both in the United States and around the world.

"We tend to look five to ten years out in terms of our real estate plans, and we would still see a really good roadmap for 30 plus warehouses a year, which is the goal that we have at least achieving 30 new warehouses a year. The goal that we set for ourselves," said CFO Gary Millerchip during Costco's second quarter earnings call.

That's a long-range plan that Millerchip thinks will continue for a long time,

"And when we look at that five-to-ten-year plan, we see opportunities for growth in all the markets and geographies that we're operating in today," he added.

Not all of the new locations will be in the U.S.

"So generally speaking, we're expecting around half, maybe slightly over half, to be in the U.S., and then just around half to slightly under a half to be in the rest of the markets that we operate in. So think of that being Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, Australia," Millerchip shared.

Costco opened eight new warehouses in Q2, raising its total to 921 worldwide. The chain plans to open 28 new locations in 2026, down from 30 due to delays in Spain.

Related: History of Costco: Company timeline and facts

Costco looks to support thriving stores

Many new Costco locations open to support an existing warehouse that tops $300 million in sales.

Mizuho analyst David Bellinger told Marketwatch that much of the chain's recent growth has been to support existing stores.

"At the margin, we believe many stores are becoming too crowded due to high demand, delaying some level of new member growth (i.e. social media posts saying to avoid Costco on weekends and ahead of holidays)," Bellinger said.

"This has shifted new unit expansion more towards ‘fill-in' activity within the U.S., essentially siphoning sales from high-volume locations and resulting in a lesser amount of new member sign-ups for new clubs," he added.

More Costco:

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• Costco's latest food court treat has fans divided
• Sam's Club, BJs gain traction in area Costco dominates

Former Costco CFO Ron Galanti talked about this strategy during the chain's first-quarter 2024 earnings call.

"I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I know, in fiscal '23, we had something like 25 or so locations that did over 400 million, and another 160 or so that did 300 million to 400 million. Those are huge numbers. And certainly, as we get to 350-plus…when it starts having a three in front of it, certainly at $350 million, we want to start looking to see what we can do to cannibalize it, frankly, and to have more growth in that market," he shared.

Costco expands to fix a parking lot problem

Once a Costco hits $300 million in sales, it starts to max out its parking lot, Galanti has said.

Kenneth Schuckman operates Schuckman Realty, a full-service commercial real estate services firm serving New York City, Long Island, the surrounding tri-state area, and New Jersey. He shared some insights on how Costco picks new locations.

"CEO Ron Vachris calls the approach strategic cannibalization. The idea is simple: build new warehouses near overburdened locations to redistribute customer volume and improve the shopping experience. These in-fill locations allow customers to spend less time battling for parking spaces or waiting in long lines, which in turn encourages more frequent visits and higher spending," he shared on his website.

The chain has invested in the team that helps it pick locations.

"To support this volume, the company has expanded its real estate team and adopted creative site acquisition methods. Recent projects highlight a shift toward refurbishing existing structures, such as converting a Hypermart in France into a Costco warehouse and former home improvement stores in Canada into business centers. This strategy broadens expansion options while reducing the capital investment required for new builds," Zacks.com reported.

Related: 57-year-old celebrity fried chicken chain down to 1 location

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This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 10:44 AM.