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CORNER BROOK, N.L. — Costco Wholesale Canada’s biggest store in the country is in St. John’s and it’s one that attracts shoppers from all over Newfoundland and Labrador.
Over the years, there have been rumours of Costco opening a second location in the province and many on the west coast think it should be there, but it doesn’t look like that will happen any time soon.
Martin Groleau, Costco’s vice-president for e-commerce, told SaltWire Network on Tuesday, March 7, the company doesn’t share its strategy on opening in a new area.
“We’re grateful of the love that Newfoundland has with our company and our concept and they’re the greatest member, but at this point, I cannot confirm if there’s going to be a second Newfoundland location,” said Groleau.
“We can never say never, but there’s nothing in the plan.”
“I cannot confirm if there’s going to be a second Newfoundland location.”
— Martin Groleau
Asked if the company might consider a smaller concept location, Groleau said that also wasn’t in its plans.
“We’re not looking for that anywhere in North America, so I don’t see why we would consider something like that in Newfoundland either,” he said.
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Other options
So, where does that leave people on the west coast and other areas outside of St. John’s who are looking for their Costco favourites?
They could make the drive to St. John’s, but with the time, distance and price of gas these days, that could make for expensive grocery shopping.
There is the option of online shopping right from Costco.ca, but that’s only for non-perishable food and household supplies.
There are some stores that offer a selection of products sold at Costco, including its signature Kirkland brand.
Colemans brings in items like toilet paper, paper towels, a variety of nuts, fruits snacks, chocolate almonds, veggie chips, water, Gatorade, some detergent products, some frozen products like large frozen berries and French onion soup.
An official with the company told SaltWire Network that there is a different variety of selection at its stores in Deer Lake, Corner Brook, Stephenville and Stephenville Crossing.
“Kirkland has a great quality brand and we will continue to build on our selection,” he said, noting the company can look at bringing in other items if there are things customers would like to see.
Co-Ops around the region also offer some products, and liquidation, convenience and smaller grocery stores in more rural areas also bring in products. SaltWire Network has even seen toilet paper at the Stan Dawe building supply store in Corner Brook.
On the bus
Big Feed Club Grocery Delivery, owned by Bradley Russell and Jamie Heath, launched their Costco shopping service in December 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and initially serviced the St. John’s area.
Russell said it was always their intention to expand.
“I know what it can be like at the local grocery store for certain grocery items, certain produce items,” said Russell, who grew up in the Stephenville-Port au Port area.
In November 2022, Big Feed Club partnered with DRL Coachlines to ship orders to locations across the island where the bus service stops.
Customers place their orders online, Big Feed Club shoppers pick up the items at Costco and items are packaged for delivery. For orders delivered by DRL, the fresh produce goes in cooler bags and frozen items are packed in dry ice in insulated packaging.
“When we purchase the goods for people, we purchase them the afternoon or the evening before they go on the bus and pack them the first thing in the morning.”
Russell didn’t have the number of subscribers to the service, but said since starting the DRL program in November, just shy of 600 deliveries have been sent across the island. There would have been a lot more over the Christmas period, but orders had to be capped due to increased passenger and package traffic on the buses.
He said the busiest region tends to be central and the west coast, with the vast number of subscribers coming from Grand Falls-Windsor and west, predominantly Deer Lake, Pasadena, Corner Brook and Port aux Basques.
“That kind of makes sense because of the proximity to Costco,” said Russell, who noted they were pleasantly surprised with the demand.
“As our process gets better and we staff up, we’ll be able to take on more customers on the west coast.”
The company also has plans to expand its reach to other areas. Once the DRL program is fully optimized, Russell said, they will expand to a more regional transportation route via passenger and courier vans to open the market in areas like Burin, the Southern Shore, Placentia, Fogo and Cape Freels.
Then Big Feed Club will start plugging in local food producers to the market, offering locally grown items along with the Costco products.
What are Big Feed Club customers buying?
Fresh produce, in particular berries, is the Number 1 seller in the St. John’s area and for the DRL program.
Big Feed Club co-owner Bradley Russell said after that there is differentiation for orders outside the overpass.
“Far less toilet paper and paper towels than we expected and more items that people may not be able to get in bulk,” he said.
That includes a lot of baking staples, like specialty flours and oils.
“And lots of frozen goods. Because your bang for your buck on some of these large package frozen items are leaps and bounds ahead of what you’re going to get compared to your local grocery store,” said Russell.
Things like a 72-count box of Eggo waffles that was destined for Pasadena this week.
During Christmas, there were orders for a lot of seasonal items, such as Christmas lights, stocking stuffers and gift boxes.
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