COURIER-JOURNAL -- The shelves are stocked, the parking lot has been striped and the doors at the second Louisville Costco warehouse store will open to members at 8 a.m., Saturday, at 3408 Bardstown Road, where Showcase Cinemas long operated.
The store has already sold about 5,700 memberships and hired about 180 employees, said warehouse manager James Harmon.
"We are offering high-quality merchandise at great value," he said. He said Louisville residents "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."
In advance of the opening, the store will have an invitation-only preview event for a handful of VIPs -- some neighbors, elected officials, and other dignitaries -- this Friday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. The event will offer snacks and store tours, but no retail sales, Hanson said.
The store is open only to members, with memberships available either at the store, or online at costco.com.
The 150,000-square-foot store is located on Bardstown, just outside the Watterson Expressway.
The location will offer many specialty departments, including a gas station, a fresh bakery, fresh meat, fresh produce, a deli with rotisserie chicken, an optical department, a photo center, a pharmacy, a tire center, a hearing center, a food court, and beer, wine and liquor sales.
Louisville Costco devotees have been driving to northeast Jefferson County to get to the only other Louisville Costco outlet, at 5020 Norton Healthcare Blvd.
This will be the fourth Costco warehouse in Kentucky and the 499th in the U.S. Costco has 85 million cardholders worldwide.
The Bardstown Road store's construction cost about $11 million, according to the city-issued building permit. The city issued a separate permit for the fueling station, which cost an additional $1.4 million. The site plan shows 636 parking spaces, and the contractor was Gray Construction of Versailles.
Costco closed on the purchase of the 19-acre site last December from Playa Plaza, headed by developer Mark Blieden for $5 million, according to Jefferson property valuation office records. The Metro Council approved zoning for the store last year.
Ground is to be broken in October for a Chick-fil-A restaurant adjacent to the Costco, with the restaurant likely to open by next spring.
National Amusements, which closed the cinemas a decade ago, sold the property for $3.3 million to Playa Plaza in 2014. The 6,000-seat theater complex closed in 2004 after operating for around 40 years.
It was razed soon thereafter, with the property subsequently sometimes used as a temporary vehicle storage lot.
As of 2015, Costco was the second-largest retail chain in the world, behind only Wal-Mart.
Costco's worldwide headquarters are in Issaquah, Wash. The company opened its first warehouse in 1983 in Seattle.
Costco employs about 174,000 full and part-time employees.
Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at 502-582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.
