I wonder how the liquor store will be separated. Open at 11 and close at 9? Nothing below room temp?
Looks like it'll be a full liquor store (normal hours) with a separate entrance, run by other folks.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/retail/costco-reveals-plans-for-new-tulsa-store/article_d9cb0045-0b63-516e-85c0-a7643f5a14b1.htmlTulsans wondering what to expect when the state’s first Costco opens next year at 103rd Street and Memorial Drive will see a higher quality of products than they would find at Sam’s Club and a greater selection of goods — including beef, baked goods and clothing — a company official said Monday.
"Costco and before it Price Club were the innovators in these club warehouses, and they are the ones who brought fresh food into it," said Steve McArthur, the company's real estate manager. "We are the ones who innovated to bring in new things, so we are constantly bringing in new things and you see Sam's following us."
McArthur joined Mayor Dewey Bartlett and City Councilor Phil Lakin on Monday across the street from the site of the new store to formally announce the company was coming to town.
The 148,000-square-foot store is to be constructed on 18 acres Costco is purchasing from the Warren Foundation. The company expects to spend $22 million to construct the store, McArthur said.
Costco stores average $170 million a year in business, but McArthur declined to say what kind of sales he expects the Tulsa store to generate.
He loves the location, though — hundreds of miles from the nearest Costco in Frisco, Texas — and along one of Tulsa's busiest streets.
"You tell people, 'I am at Memorial and 103rd Street,' most people, I think, if they live uptown or not, they know where that is."
The store will employ 200 people and pay cashiers a starting salary of 11.50 an hour. The average wage for a Costco employee is $21 an hour, McArthur said.
Seattle-based Costco Wholesale Corp. is a membership-only store with 461 warehouses in 43 states.
McArthur said the state's liquor laws — which prohibit the sale of wine and strong beer in supermarkets had something to do with the company not opening a store here.
But its natural growth pattern had a lot to do with it, too.
"We are not doing the massive stores everywhere, all the time," McArthur said. "But we are growing in Texas, and Oklahoma is the next state up."
Visitors to the new store won't have to go far if they want to buy liquor, strong beer or wine. The company plans to build a separate structure, called a pod, next to the Costco that will contain a liquor store.
The liquor store will be operated by an independent third party, as required by law, and McArthur said the company is constructing it with the hope of someday being able to sell liquor and wine.
"At some point we know the rules are going to change," he said.
Liquor accounts for less than 10 percent of the company's sales, but its wines are especially popular with customers, McArthur said.
"Costco is the largest purveyor of fine wines in the world," he said. "People that have that wherewithal to know wines find it a bargain.
McArthur said Tulsans questioning whether to give the store a try should know they will get a better value than they would at any other store of its kind.
"If they don't like what they have bought, there is a 100 percent guarantee whenever they want to bring it back, no questions asked," he said. "The employees want to work there, and that is going to be reflected in the way they treat the customer because we pay them so well."