Costco preps for Perrysburg debut

The Costco in Perrysburg is to open Thursday at 8 a.m. Frozen foods and non-perishables have been stocked, but produce and other time-sensitive items have not arrived yet.
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It’s taken two years of negotiating, planning, and building, but through it all, Costco Wholesale Corp. has stayed committed to opening a second area store.

Now, with its Perrysburg location at the southeast corner of Dixie Highway and Eckel Junction Road less than a week away from opening, the retailer has been focused on delivering the goods. Its opening is 8 a.m. Thursday.

“If you came here a few weeks ago, there was nothing in here,” said Matt Alleva, assistant general manager of the 154,300-square-foot store.

But Friday, the warehouse club store was filled with hard goods, frozen foods, and nonperishables. It still awaited produce, baked goods, and items offered on a more time-sensitive basis.

Mr. Alleva and other Costco workers, many from stores elsewhere, were making sure all of the 4,000-plus items will be in place by the opening. 

“This is the most anticipated Costco opening that I’ve ever been a part of,” said Mr. Alleva, who joined Costco in Anchorage and has opened 10 stores.

Operating a Toledo store since 2007, Costco in 2013 decided the area was big enough for two stores. Alex Leask, an assistant front-end manager at Perrysburg, said the company’s intuition was correct.

“The response from the community has been overwhelming,” she said. A large number of Costco memberships have been sought by residents of Bowling Green, Findlay, and Fremont, she said. The retailer got 10,000 job applications for its 215 job openings at the store.

The diesel pumps at the Perrysburg Costco store are a first for the chain.
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Costco conducted a membership drive, which is still taking place, in Perrysburg and Maumee over the last four months, soliciting businesses and customers. Business customers can also take advantage of several membership program perks including a low-fee merchant account service program. Mr. Alleva said the retailer would donate items at local events to let residents and officials know that it wants to be an active member of the community.

To veteran Costco shoppers, the Perrysburg store resembles any of the Issaquah, Wash., company’s 672 stores.

But Mr. Alleva said changes, many of them subtle, were added to reflect requests and patterns the retailer observed from its shoppers.

The Perrysburg store, for example, is the first Costco whose fuel pumps offer diesel as well as regular gasoline. Mr. Alleva said other stores are being retrofitted for diesel, but Perrysburg is the first to offer the fuel at its opening.

Inside, the Perrysburg store is bright, using LED lighting and more skylights than the West Toledo store. Its prepared foods area, including its popular rotisserie chicken, has double-layer shelves to hold more items. In the refrigerated foods section, shelves are three times higher than normal to accommodate more items.

Responding to trends, the Photo Center has been reduced in size from some stores, with photos printed off-site and ordering conducted mostly online. Hearing aid sales will be next to pharmacy sales and other health items.

The new Costco does not have self-serve checkout lanes. Mr. Alleva said self-serve was found to actually impede checkout and most customers said they prefer face-to-face interaction with cashiers.

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.