Costco maps out Suzhou store

Costco started construction of its second franchise store on the Chinese mainland July 27, 108 days after the world's second-largest retailer won a 142.5 million yuan ($20 million) bid April 9 for a block of land in Suzhou New District (SND).

Costco's incredible speed from bidding to construction was aided by the government of Xushuguan, where the 50,000-square-meter membership-only warehouse store is located. Departments of commerce, administrative examination and approval, natural resources and planning, and housing and urban-rural development made concerted efforts to help Costco in site selection, business registration, land remising, mapping and planning.

Roofing of the store is expected to be completed in August 2021, the building completed in November and opened to the public in December.

Costco is also expected to partner with three world famous businesses – Aeon Mall from Japan, Ikea from Sweden and Decathlon from France – to form a core commercial area.

Public information shows it was Costco's wholly-owned subsidiary, Costco (Suzhou) Trade Co, that made the deal. It started operations in SND in January 2020, with registered capital of 422 million yuan and total investment of 1.27 billion yuan.

Costco made its debut in Shanghai on Aug 27, 2019, and the past seven months have brought the Washington-headquartered retailer huge traffic. Its debut was once cut short after shoppers swamped the store.

According to an official at the SND investment department, the establishment of Costco was another successful result of the district's focus on opening-up and improving its business environment.