FILE PHOTO - The 24-pump gas bar at Kelowna's new Costco warehouse is under construction as seen in this Nov. 19, 2021, photo.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

It's looking like it will take less than a year from the time it was approved by the city for Costco to open its new Kelowna warehouse.

The company had planned to open its 24-pump gas bar next week but that's not going to happen just yet.

“We were hoping to open the Kelowna gas station in the second week of December but this has been postponed to later,” Martin Groleau, vice-president for e-commerce for Costco, said in an email to iNFOnews.ca today, Dec. 7.

Groleau said they don't have a specific opening date for the gas bar, but added it will likely be later in December or next January. The plan is to open the warehouse store in February but there isn't a specific date scheduled for that either.

READ MORE: Costco’s rumoured move to West Kelowna takes Kelowna mayor by surprise

The opening of the new warehouse will mark the culmination of years of speculation that Costco was going to expand and relocate. There were even rumours, back in 2019, that it would move to West Kelowna because no suitable land was available in Kelowna.

That proved not to be the case as Costco filed an application with the City of Kelowna in November 2020 to rezone a 14.75 acre parcel bounded by Springfield, Leckie and Baron roads.

The building will replace the existing store that opened in 1991 at the corner of Highways 97 and 33.

The new warehouse is 167,177 square feet versus 135,000 square feet for the old one, plus a gas bar with 24 pumps.

READ MORE: New Kelowna Costco gets final council approval but not without some controversy

It will add 50 to 60 new staff, about half of them full-time.

Currently, Costco employs almost 450 people with more than 55 per cent of those being full-time, a Costco representative told city council in April.

A development permit was approved at that meeting, despite some vocal opposition. A February opening of the new warehouse will be less than 12 months after Costco got final approval.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2021