Costco reveals possible opening date for Kyle store - Austin Business Journal (2024)

Sixteen months ago, Kyle residents erupted in applause when the City Council approved incentives for a Costco Wholesale Corp. location.

Now residents could be about four months away from welcoming the big-box retailer to the Hays County community. It would be the southernmost Costco location in the Austin metro, underscoring the massive population growth on that side of the capital city.

The Kyle store, located at the northwest corner of I-35 and Kohlers Crossing, is slated to open in March, according to the company’s website.

A Costco spokesperson declined to answer questions about the opening date, saying its policy is not to share details until closer to opening, but directed Austin Business Journal to the company's website.

Costco leaders originally had hoped to open the store in 2022.

The new store is expected to be 160,544 square feet, according to a November 2021 filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Construction on the project began in January with an estimated cost of $15.2 million for the warehouse and $2.3 million for a gas station.

TDLR documents are not always accurate and are subject to change.

Washington-based Costco in June 2021 secured local incentives in Kyle. The city of Kyle will pay Costco up to $5 million in sales tax revenue over 15 years, according to a copy of the city's Chapter 380 incentives agreement with Costco.

At the meeting when the incentives were approved, a Kyle economic development leader said Costco would invest $37.5 million in the store while creating 249 full-time-equivalent jobs with an average salary of $52,348 and $14.4 million in annual payroll.

Costco is a retail bellwether that could attract more tenants to Kyle and the Dry River District, a 65-acre mixed-use center with retail, office and multifamily developed by Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group. It is expected to have more than 300,000 square feet total; anchor tenants include Evo Entertainment and Home Depot, according to the Endeavor website.

Kyle — which saw its population surge 85% percent from 2010 to 2021, to an estimated nearly 52,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data — is becoming host to a variety of large retailers, including an incoming Academy Sports and Outdoors and Hobby Lobby. Kyle is also ramping up its restaurant lineup with newcomers such as Rudy’s Bar-B-Q, Spoon + Fork, Crust Pizza, Via 313, Chipotle and others.

This would be the fifth Costco location in the Austin metro, according to its website. It has another store under construction in Georgetown, on the north side of the metro, with no opening date set.

The company has been in the national headlines recently because of deliberations on whether to raise membership fees. Costco last raised membership fees in June 2017 and typically does so about every five years, but has has held off so far this year, Puget Sound Business Journal reports. The company has about 55 million U.S. members, according to PSBJ. Membership rates are $60 for its basic plan and $120 for executive membership.

For its 2022 fiscal year, which ended Aug. 28, Costco reported more than $222 billion in sales — the first time that figure had surpassed $200 billion. It brought in another $4.2 billion from membership fees.

However, there's one price Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti never sees changing: its famous $1.50 hot dog and soda combo.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with details of Costco's Chapter 380 incentives agreement with the city of Kyle.