Thrifty shoppers suffer with Costco delays

THRIFTY shoppers may have a long wait ahead before United States retail giant, Costco, sets up shop in Casey.
Costco is a retail membership club that sells quality products, in bulk, at highly discounted prices to its members.
Bargain hunters in the US pay a $50 annual membership fee to shop at Costco and in return can buy a range of quality products, including groceries, gadgets and whitegoods at a discount rate of about 15 per cent.
Costco representative Patrick Noone visited the municipal offices in July last year and met with City of Casey director of planning and development services Peter Fitchett, manager of strategic development Liam Hodgetts, council business development staff and Springfield Ward councillor Lorraine Wreford and former councillor Steve Beardon.
In a statement at the time, Mr Fitchett said that the Costco representative presented information about its retail model and expansion into Australia.
Yesterday (Wednesday) mayor Cr Geoff Ablett told the News there had been no recent contact between council and Costco. “As Victoria’s largest municipality and one of the fastest-growing in the country, the City of Casey actively seeks to attract jobs and businesses to the area, and in an appropriate location, we would welcome a Costco store in our municipality,” he said.
A Costco spokeswoman said they believed Melbourne had the potential to ultimately house a number of their stores, however at this stage their focus was on its first Australian store at Waterfront City in Docklands followed by expansion into Sydney.
Costco has 53 million cardholders at 535 locations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.