At 8 a.m. on Oct. 2, Timnath Mayor Jill Grossman-Belsile will snip a ribbon at a brand new Costco warehouse, thus officially opening up a new shopping option to local and area residents. The 148,000 square-foot warehouse is located at 4705 Weitzel St., at the southeast corner of Interstate 25 and Harmony Road. Northern Colorado shoppers previously had to travel to the Denver area for Costco savings, as the nearest stores were in Thornton and Westminster.
“We are thrilled to be bringing Costco’s low warehouse prices to the residents of Timnath,” manager Jeff Scheidemantle said. “They have been asking us to open here for a long time, and we already have made an impact on the local job market. We look forward to contributing to the community in many ways.”
The store employs about 220 people. Costco CEO Craig Jelinek has long been an advocate of raising the federal minimum wage above $7.25 per hour (Colorado’s minimum wage is $8 per hour.) According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Costco’s average wage across all stores and jobs is $21 per hour, compared with Walmart which reports an average full-time store employee wage of $12.92 per hour.
Town officials say there may be a rush of traffic when the store opens, but said that should taper some. Town planner Matt Blakely said a traffic study done during the planning process with Costco shows current street networks and intersections are adequate to serve the new volume and development of future pad sites on the property.
As of Sept. 5, there was one active application for a pad site. Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburger, which has about a dozen stores in Colorado, is in the site planning process, Blakely said.
Costco warehouse stores are open only to cardholders who pay a membership fee that starts at $55. The Timnath store will be open 10 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; Saturdays 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Sundays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.