Costco opens for business in Carson City

Sue Modarelli won't be driving to Reno to buy her holiday yams any more.

The Indian Hills woman had a 20-pound case of yams in her Costco shopping cart Friday, along with a package of a dozen rolls of paper towels, an 18-inch-tall ceramic canister of Italian biscotti cookies, a six-pack of romaine lettuce and a scattering of other goodies.

"No, this wasn't all on my shopping list," admitted Modarelli, who was one of the first shoppers through the check stands when the Carson City Costco opened Friday morning.

Modarelli said she has been shopping at the Reno Costco for years and anticipates the Fall arrival of a supply of yams for her holiday cooking.

She represents the type of customer that could help city revenues by attracting sales and sales taxes into the community. Carson City's market area extends beyond the community of 50,000 to draw from surrounding counties and even across the state line at Tahoe.

Larry Osborne, executive vice president of the Carson City Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber will try to monitor how many people the Costco does draw into the community.

"I'll be interested to see what our November sales tax reports look like," Osborne said. Those reports from the Nevada Department of Taxation don't break out revenues from specific retailers, but the majority of any increase could be attributed to the warehouse store.

Osborne said merchants sometimes help the chamber track where customers originate by monitoring addresses on checks.

A glance at the mile-long line of cars stretching south from the new left-turn lane onto Old Clear Creek Road all the way to Jacks Valley Road should dispell any doubts of Costco's drawing power.

Within minutes of the 8 a.m. opening, hundreds of people were traipsing through the aisle, checking out 32-inch televisions stacked 20 feet tall, a pallet of Razor scooters or a display of snowboards, ski boards and skateboards.

Handing out samples of Aidells Sausages was Hans Fleming, one of dozens of demonstrators and sample providers stationed throughout the store. Fleming said he travels from Sacramento, Calif., to Costcos around the area and he thought the new Carson City was typical, but pretty nice.

"But that snow - I don't like it, and you can print that," Fleming said.

Johnathan Silva, 15, of Indian Hills and Cody Davis, 15, of Carson City, checked out an electronic drum machine on display. They were "window shopping" because Silva had to shovel the driveway so his mother, Karen Davies, could check out the grand opening deals. The first day was a free-shopping day, when customers who did not have Costco memberships could make purchases using a newspaper coupon instead of a membership card.

The opening ceremonies attracted a number people who had been involved in matters associated with bringing Costco to town, including Mayor Ray Masayko, city supervisors John Plank and Pete Livermore, Carson City Senior Planner Juan Guzman and Carson City Redevelopment Director Rob Joiner.

Livermore, who owns the two A&W Family Restaurants in town, said the new Costco would be a help when he buys supplies for his company.

"I don't have time to be driving up to Reno," he said.

Address:

700 Old Clear Creek Road

Hours:

Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. for business and executive members, 11 a.m. for Gold Star members.

Closes weekdays at 8:30 p.m.

Open Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Gas station hours:

Weekdays, 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., weekends 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Membership information:

Business card: $45

Individual Gold Star card: $45

Executive membership card: $100

For information on Costco Warehouse membership benefits and company information, head to the Web at www.costco.com