Costco

[ThomPaine]

...Interesting location as there is a Sams Club just a mile west at Pennsylvania. Obviously, they plan to go toe-to-toe with them.

I understand this concept in terms of cars, drug stores or Mexican Restaurants, but I would not have thought it pertinent in a wholesale club.

http://fmwww.bc.edu/ec-p/wp447.pdf

Regardless, glad they are coming!

[Jeepnokc]

"You'll see some type of stand alone liquor outlet like they do in other state's with weird alcohol laws"

Maybe but would more than likely be an independent operator. Liquor stores in Oklahoma have to buy from the local liquor distributor (ie....Central Liquor, etc). Costco would have to convince them to buy their brands wholesale and then buy it back from them thus putting the middleman in there and increasing the cost. If I recall correctly, you can only own one liquor store so would not be able to do it at any other stores they opened in Oklahoma which I think would make it cost prohibitive and a royal pain in the you know what to jump through all the hoops for one location.

[HOT ROD]

Here it is sort of flipped as we have Costco all over the place but only 3 Sam's. The Renton and Auburn Sam's (think Seattle South metro) are both within 2-miles of a Costco, while the third Sam's in N. Seattle proper is by itself as Costco is 5-miles or so away. I am excited for OKC of course and I do hope Costco opens a few locations to challenge Sam's/Wal-Mart there. Hopefully this might lead to a presence of other clubs like BJ's, CWP, and others (by the way, we don't have up here either).

Check out the far-out cool Costco in Vancouver Chinatown, underneath the Stadium SkyTrain station (their metro subway): Costco Vancouver

[rlewis]

All this makes me wonder if they've had their eye on this property all along, and were only waiting on the Kilpatrick Turnpike expansion to finish. Maybe our liquor laws didn't dissuade them from pulling the trigger last year after all.

[catch22]

All this makes me wonder if they've had their eye on this property all along, and were only waiting on the Kilpatrick Turnpike expansion to finish. Maybe our liquor laws didn't dissuade them from pulling the trigger last year after all.

Doubtful. They would have already started construction by now if so.

[SoonerQueen]

Doubtful. They would have already started construction by now if so.

I hope if they do build a Costco here that they relax the liquor laws and allow them to sell alcohol as well as prescription eyeglasses.I don't drink, so that part is no big deal to me, but I do wear glasses and saw the coolest ones when we visited a Dallas area store.

[bluedogok]

"You'll see some type of stand alone liquor outlet like they do in other state's with weird alcohol laws"

Maybe but would more than likely be an independent operator. Liquor stores in Oklahoma have to buy from the local liquor distributor (ie....Central Liquor, etc). Costco would have to convince them to buy their brands wholesale and then buy it back from them thus putting the middleman in there and increasing the cost. If I recall correctly, you can only own one liquor store so would not be able to do it at any other stores they opened in Oklahoma which I think would make it cost prohibitive and a royal pain in the you know what to jump through all the hoops for one location.

The last time that I looked into it you had to be a 10-year resident of Oklahoma at the time of your application to get a license, so it would have to be someone in state. I couldn't get a license until I moved back and lived there for 10 years even though I was born in and lived 37 of my 49 years in Oklahoma. Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and King Soupers only have one location with anything other then 3.2 beer since they have no in state requirement but do have the one license limitation. In Texas you can have up to five and can pool family members licenses into a large group, that is how Spec's and Twin Liquors operates. The Costco liquor stores in the Austin area are independent operators, they even operate under different names (printed on the receipt) and only lease space from Costco, since Costco has beer and wine in the main store the attached stores don't carry a large selection of those.

[Soonerman]

Why are Oklahoma alcohol laws so damn strict??

[bluedogok]

It isn't just Oklahoma, most states have some weirdness in the laws since they were crafted with wide ranging special interests involved.

[betts]

It has very little to do with protecting Oklahoma citizens from the dangers of demon rum, but rather protecting the bank accounts of the liquor distributors and the legislators they lobby.

[Bunty]

It has very little to do with protecting Oklahoma citizens from the dangers of demon rum, but rather protecting the bank accounts of the liquor distributors and the legislators they lobby.

If people don't like the status quot when it comes to state alcohol laws and want to see them abolished, then they should try bypassing all that political corruption by passing around a petition to get it on the ballot as difficult as it is.

[MWCGuy]

It has very little to do with protecting Oklahoma citizens from the dangers of demon rum, but rather protecting the bank accounts of the liquor distributors and the legislators they lobby.

The last few state questions that involved changes in the liquor laws were defeated by the liquor wholesale industry not the charlie church crowd.

[bchris02]

Why are Oklahoma alcohol laws so damn strict??

A combination of liquor distribution corruption, religious fundamentalists, MADD groups, and the fact the Oklahoma constitution was drafted during the height of the dry movement, and was purposely drafted with the intention that the state would be permanently dry. When prohibition was repealed in 1933, much of the country's sentiment was still very anti-alcohol other than 3.2 beer.

[onthestrip]

During the most recent fight over getting our laws changed it was the vocal state liquor store owners group (claim that it will close down many, locally owned liquor stores) and the more silent but talks-with-their-money liquor distributors. There wasnt much other opposition that I remember.

[beshy]

So are there any updates on the negotiations. Or is this still a liquor law debate.

[bombermwc]

Liquor laws don't keep companies out. They may have to change what they do and remove some offerings, but they simply flat out dont KEEP them from coming. Aldi and Whole Foods both normally offer wine. Costco is no different. Not that they were a good business model, but Williams flat out didn't sell alcohol at all. And if you were to go check out Creat/WalMart, how much do you thing the beer aisle makes them? I bet it's not much compared to the rest of the store.

There are some inventive ways of doing the whole thing, but that doesn't mean they want to spend the money on it. Look at Aldi, just as an example. Don't read too much into it or try to just make crazy stretch from it. It could just as easily be Crest or Homeland. Aldi has enough parking on their store plots to add a liquor "room" with a seperate entrance/register/etc. Aldi Stoer Liquor #12345. If WalMart/Crest REALLY wanted to sell liqour and not just beer type drinks, one of those small storefronts at the front of the store could EASILY be leased out to a subsidiary. Liqour of Walmart Sore #12345, Liqour of Walmart Store 12346, etc.

I'm not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of the laws, my (probably overly simplisitc) point here is that there are ways to make this work. But there are a great many factors to it that currently make it cost prohibitive. Things like the distance to the nearest park/school/etc.

But all of these stores sell this stuff in other states but it hasn't kept the stores from coming to Oklahoma. If Costo wants to come here, they'll simply do it withouth liqour. That's really the point of my post, granted it's a bit long-winded. All i'm saying is that the liquor laws don't really "keep stores out of the state", even though i think the liqour laws here are a bunch of total B.S.

[Pete]

So are there any updates on the negotiations. Or is this still a liquor law debate.

I haven't heard anything new but these things take time.

I bet we'll get an official announcement in the next month or so.

[Plutonic Panda]

Does anyone here know generally how fast do Costco stores go up?

[Pete]

Does anyone here know generally how fast do Costco stores go up?

Fast.

They are basically huge concrete boxes with tons of stackable warehouse racks.

[gamecock]

Liquor laws don't keep companies out. They may have to change what they do and remove some offerings, but they simply flat out dont KEEP them from coming. Aldi and Whole Foods both normally offer wine. Costco is no different. Not that they were a good business model, but Williams flat out didn't sell alcohol at all. And if you were to go check out Creat/WalMart, how much do you thing the beer aisle makes them? I bet it's not much compared to the rest of the store.

There are some inventive ways of doing the whole thing, but that doesn't mean they want to spend the money on it. Look at Aldi, just as an example. Don't read too much into it or try to just make crazy stretch from it. It could just as easily be Crest or Homeland. Aldi has enough parking on their store plots to add a liquor "room" with a seperate entrance/register/etc. Aldi Stoer Liquor #12345. If WalMart/Crest REALLY wanted to sell liqour and not just beer type drinks, one of those small storefronts at the front of the store could EASILY be leased out to a subsidiary. Liqour of Walmart Sore #12345, Liqour of Walmart Store 12346, etc.

I'm not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of the laws, my (probably overly simplisitc) point here is that there are ways to make this work. But there are a great many factors to it that currently make it cost prohibitive. Things like the distance to the nearest park/school/etc.

But all of these stores sell this stuff in other states but it hasn't kept the stores from coming to Oklahoma. If Costo wants to come here, they'll simply do it withouth liqour. That's really the point of my post, granted it's a bit long-winded. All i'm saying is that the liquor laws don't really "keep stores out of the state", even though i think the liqour laws here are a bunch of total B.S.

I don't necessarily disagree with the idea that they can come in spite of these laws, but clearly when they have to change their preferred way of doing business, it may discourage them. In other words, it could make another location relatively more attractive. We want to be attracting these companies, not giving them reasons to locate elsewhere.

[beshy]

Does anyone here know generally how fast do Costco stores go up?

Usually in about 3-4 month from breaking ground to opening.

[Plutonic Panda]

Fast.

They are basically huge concrete boxes with tons of stackable warehouse racks.

Usually in about 3-4 month from breaking ground to opening.

Wow, ok. I would've thought maybe about a year.

[bluedogok]

The one in South Austin took about 9 months from groundbreaking. Some of that may have been due to environmental concerns since it is in the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. They have no gas station at that location unlike the ones in North Austin and Selma (just north of San Antonio).

[kelroy55]

I used to think Sam's and Costco were very similar but they are different in many important ways. And it takes a while to fully comprehend.


First of all, they treat their employees very well and it shows. Always a happy, friendly staff with amazing customer service.

Also, Costco private brands many things under their Kirkland label. For example, I breed and raise champion Labradors and I feed them the Kirkland dry food, which is essentially Eukanuba repackaged. Costco charges about $18 for 40 lbs. vs. $50 for Eukanuba.

In fact, just about anything they put the Kirkland label on is very high quality and usually an amazing value. Another odd example is I just had a massive party where I served primarily Kirkland tequila and Kirkland margarita mix. Everyone raved about the drinks.


Sam's has a much better and comprehensive website but otherwise Costco is miles better in just about every other way. Think Target vs. Walmart.

Good to know that about the dog food. I got several items that were the Kirkland brand and have been happy with all of them.

[Pete]

Good to know that about the dog food. I got several items that were the Kirkland brand and have been happy with all of them.

Almost all the breeders I know on the West Coast feed Kirkland to their dogs.

Costco has a rigorous process for selecting the items for their stores and are even more rigorous about the items they private label.

If you watch the documentary that I posted early in this thread, you'll see that they are very painstaking even about their *toilet paper*, which by the way is excellent and a great value.