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Costco Wholesale is now officially open in the Brazos Valley after a double ribbon-cutting hosted by the College Station Chamber of Commerce and Navasota Grimes Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, August 4.
The event garnered attention from all over the Brazos Valley with customers beginning to line up at 6 a.m. head of the store's opening and featured many city officials from throughout the area including College Station Mayor Karl Mooney, Bryan Mayor Andrew Nelson, College Station City Manager Jason Weeks, College Station Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Glen Brewer, and Navasota Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Johnny McNally.
College Station Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chair Wade Beckman said he was impressed by the turnout to welcome Costco to the city.
"It is literally awesome to see this many people up at 7:30 in the morning to come out to support a business," Beckman said. "I don't think I've seen a business in all my time here that people are more excited about than Costco."
The store opens only a little over a year after being approved by the College Station City Council. Mooney said as soon as the city approved the big box store, construction crews were out working the next morning to clear the land, showing the corporation's eagerness to expand to the area.
"I signed the contract at 4:30 in the afternoon and the next morning by 8 a.m., they were clearing the land," Mooney said. "Costco knew they were coming to College Station and they had planned all the materials, all the construction workers, and everybody else that they needed to get this done on schedule to open today. So that's the kind of service that I think carries over to what you can expect when you walk in the doors — that's so important in College Station. Costco has invested in us — now it's our turn to invest in Costco."
As employees waited to let in the first customers of the day, College Station Costco General Manager Kiley Fitzpatrick recognized her employees for their contributions in getting the store ready for opening day and thanked the community for their support.
"We are extremely excited to be here," Fitzpatrick said. "The community has been awesome. We have worked really hard, all of our managers and employees, to get the warehouse ready to open today. Thank you so much for welcoming us to the community."
