Online shopping boom behind Airdrie's Costco proposed facility expansion

With that kind of growth, comes expansion, an expansion that hasn't been overlooked by Airdrie's City Council. On October 4th, 2021, the council gave the third and final reading to a series of bylaws that include redistricting lands to support the expansion of an existing Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd. (Costco) distribution facility in Highland Park.

Sarah Chamberlain, the team lead of the economic development department of the city of Airdrie said this proposed expansion plan has been in the works for more than a year. 

"Costco's expansion in Airdrie really is going to do many things for our community," she said. "It is going to create jobs from the construction of the expansion and then long-term jobs, as Costco expands its operations and adds more employment." 

Chamberlain was also asked how this might affect small businesses that may not be able to compete with stores like Costco, especially when it comes to e-commerce.

"While we were celebrating the good news of Costco's expansion in Airdrie, we are not overlooking the fact that it's been a very challenging year for our small business community," she said. "Small businesses still account for more than 98 per cent of our businesses in this community. And we are in no way forgetting about the importance of the mom-and-pop shops in Airdrie."

Bob Dennis, the General Manager for the Costco Airdrie Depot said that the online shopping boom has been a significant driving force behind Costco's success.

"We will be merchandising a lot of big and bulky appliances like TVs, electronics," he said. "Something that is a quick turnaround for our members when they order online."

Costco currently employs 280 employees, and according to Dennis, he forecasts that growth will increase another 10 per cent once the expansion is finished.

The proposed expansion includes the addition of approximately 700,000 square feet. Construction is expected to occur in two phases over several years, with the first phase targeted to commence in spring 2022.

According to a Statistics Canada analysis, "Retail e-commerce sales reached a record $3.9 billion in May 2020, a 2.3% increase over April and 99.3% increase over February ($2.0 billion). Year over year, e-commerce sales more than doubled—with a 110.8% increase compared with May 2019."

Among the top ten e-commerce websites in Canada, Amazon Canada ranks first, while Costco ranks seventh and has an estimated 22.67 million visitors each month.