Rumours of a second Costco being built in Windsor have been swirling all summer, to the point even Ontario Premier Doug Ford raised the issue during his visit to the area Monday.
Multiple sources familiar with the project have now confirmed to the Star the company plans to build a new location behind Windsor’s east-end Walmart on Tecumseh Road.
“It’s one of the sites that was considered for the new hospital,” one source said. “They’re going through the site-planning approval process with the city.”
There are 77 acres of land behind the Walmart that extends west up to the rear of the Home Depot outlet.
Access to the site could be created by extending the existing Catharine Street, which is already connected to Lauzon Parkway and currently allows access to the RONA+ store and the rear entrance for the Walmart.
The source added the new Costco store will be bigger than the current Walker Road location and offer more parking capacity. It’s expected the store will create over 200 new jobs.
“The site preparation likely begins at the beginning of the year to start construction early next spring,” the source said. “It’ll be to open in 2026.”
With the Walker Road store regularly packed with customers, and cars circling the parking lot on the lookout for a vacated space, the company has been studying the area for a second site for years.
The explosive growth of the area’s population, with nearly 32,000 people moving to the region in 2023, has further justified the company’s confidence in the area.
“They considered other sites,” the source said. “One site was outside the city.”
A second Costco store is just the latest expansion on the Windsor retail scene. It joins the addition of a local Amazon warehousing site; significant investment and new retailers at the Devonshire Mall; and the addition of another No Frills grocery store in Windsor.
“Windsor-Essex is growing at a rapid pace,” Premier Ford said during his Windsor visit this week. “Vic Fedeli, my minister of economic development, showed me four pages of investments.
“A lot of those investments, multibillion-dollar investments, are here in southwestern Ontario and the Windsor-Essex area. There’s still more coming.
“I know it may not seem big, but rumour has it, a Costco is coming to town. That’s two to 300 more jobs. That’s important, good-paying jobs.
“In fact, in recent years, Windsor has consistently ranked among the top regions for new business growth.”
Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO/president Rakesh Naidu said investments from big-box retailers reflect their optimistic view of the Windsor area’s future.
“It’s very good sign that these big-box retailers are showing interest in the region,” Naidu said. “They do their homework.
“They know the level of business activity here, the growth of our population and the foot traffic. They only come to growing communities and they know the bright future this area has.
“It’s a real vote of confidence in our region.”
Naidu said the local business community also has a more positive outlook now that it’s clear the Bank of Canada is intent on significantly lowering interest rates.
“I think the feeling of local businesses is that we’re headed in a direction of a better business environment,” Naidu said.
“There’s more confidence the cost of borrowing is going down and that will help create momentum in the market. In the coming weeks and months, as we see further cuts, we’ll begin to see benefits. Not just for the retail sector, but other sectors.
“Overall, there’s optimism that perhaps the worst is over.”