Another 7 Costco Stores To Open This Summer: Is A Location Coming Near You?

Costco (COST) has announced that it will be opening seven new stores over the course of the summer as it continues to expand its retail footprint.

The seven warehouse additions add to three other stores that will open in May and June as well as a location that is slated to open in November.

On May 19, Costco will open a store in Riverton, Utah, with a Business Center warehouse coming to Anjou, Quebec, Canada, in June and another store opening in N Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, also in June.

The November store opening is set for University City, Missouri.

But this summer, Costco will see a warehouse open in Mibu, Japan, in July, and stores in St. Augustine, Florida; College Station, Texas; Murrieta, California; Verona, Wisconsin; Auckland, New Zealand; and Gimhae, South Korea; in August.

Costco announced that it would open as many as 27 new stores in 2022.

Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said during Costco’s Q1 2022 earnings call, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha, “we're going to be 27 net new units this fiscal year, plus five relos, which is -- six relos planned. We might miss that a little bit. But at the end of the day, so there's more warehouses.”

Unlike many other retailers, Costco has seen a surge in sales, especially during the COVID pandemic as its discount merchandise attracted shoppers in droves. It has bucked the trend of reducing brick-and-mortar stores as it continues to see strong sales from consumers.

The retailer reported a net sales increase of 16.1% for the second quarter of 2022 to $50.94 billion from $43.89 billion last year, according to its latest earnings report.

The news of the store openings comes as speculation swirls that Costco is on the cusp of raising its membership fees.

Currently, the retailer charges $60 per year for its Gold membership, which includes two cards per household and access to all its warehouse clubs worldwide as well as Costco.com. Its Executive membership costs $120 per year and earns 2% on all eligible purchases up to $1,000 with additional savings on other Costco services, such as travel.

Costco hasn’t raised its membership fees since June 2017.

As of Friday premarket hours, shares of Costco were trading at $515.14, down $2.18 or 0.42%.