Costco scouts Colonie for store
Quality mass seller looks at region, developer says
By Eric Anderson
Updated 1:20 pm, Thursday, March 28, 2013
Issaquah-based Costco, which turns 30 this year, is the world's seventh largest retailer, with 68 million members and 622 warehouses in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Asia.
It posted $1.7 billion in profit last fiscal year, a 17 percent increase from the year before. That's a lot of people buying toilet paper in bulk. ()
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Costco Wholesale, a membership warehouse club known for its deep discounts as well as its expensive jewelry and fine wines, could soon be setting up shop in the Capital Region.
The Issaquah, Wash.-based company, which operates stores similar to those of BJ's and Sam's Club, has looked at sites in the Capital Region, although it's not ready to talk about its plans locally.
"Our corporate policy is to not comment on specific markets," said Jeff Brotman, Costco's chairman and co-founder, in response to an email request for comment.
Among the sites it has considered was one just east of Albany International Airport.
"They were looking at the project we were proposing at Engel Farm," said Howard Carr of the Howard Group, a commercial real estate development firm.
And on Wednesday, a developer in Syracuse who has landed what apparently will be the first Costco upstate told The Post-Standard of Syracuse that the company was also looking for sites in Albany and Rochester.
Costco plans to open its first store upstate in Camillus, a suburb west of Syracuse.
Joe LaCivita, Colonie's planning director, said he reached out to Costco about three weeks ago to talk with its development team, hoping the company might be interested in Colonie.
"They weren't forthcoming saying that they're interested," LaCivita said Wednesday morning. "We would love to have them."
Carr said he would be surprised if Costco hadn't looked at the Shoppes at Latham Circle. The redevelopment of the former Latham Circle Mall apparently still lacks an anchor tenant who would occupy a building very close in size to the average-size Costco store.
In Clifton Park, Town Planning Director John Scavo said his office gets frequent calls from site selectors who don't reveal who they're working for, and that he's been told that the region and Saratoga County in particular have been getting national attention from the retail sector.
"It wouldn't surprise me if (Costco is) looking in the area," Scavo added.
One hurdle: New York's laws regarding the sale of wine and other alcoholic beverages.
"Every one of the stores sells a lot of wine," Carr said. But in New York state, Costco, like BJ's and other chains, would be limited to selling alcohol in just one location.
In BJ's case, it's the store in Colonie that has the liquor license.
And the alcoholic beverages would have to be sold in a separate store space.
Costco, Carr said, also would generate a lot of traffic, attracting customers from 50 or more miles away.
It's not unusual for Capital Region residents to drive 80 miles to Costco stores in central Massachusetts, Connecticut or the lower Hudson Valley.
Many drove that far to visit Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. But in both cases, the retailers eventually decided to open stores locally, with Whole Foods expected in Colonie Center early next year and Trader Joe's already open on Wolf Road.
How soon might we see a Costco? Carr said it could be two years, or even four years, away.
But, he added, "I think you're going to see it eventually."
eanderson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5323
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They are looking at Albany sites. Death Ray and McCheese are too busy giving money to the same two crews and riding limos to NYC. 
