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Nov. 14—After several date changes and delays, officials with Costco on Tuesday confirmed that the new store in Linda will open to customers starting Nov. 22.
Assistant General Manager Ricky Totah told the Appeal that ahead of Nov. 22, the retailer plans to open the gas station on Saturday. The store was originally slated to open on Oct. 5 after its arrival in Linda was first announced in May 2022.
"They said it couldn't be done. They said we were crazy. Well today, I'm beyond thrilled to announce that we did it. It's official, Costco is coming to Linda," Yuba County District 1 Supervisor Andy Vasquez said in a Facebook video in 2022.
Since that time, the community has been anticipating the large retailer's presence in the area. Delays in opening the store have been caused by a variety of factors, according to employees. Along with waiting for necessary power equipment, a manager also told the Appeal that some contractor issues also contributed to the opening date being pushed beyond Oct. 5.
Totah said an opening celebration is planned at 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 22 to officially welcome the retailer.
After much of the construction work was done on the main store, employees have been preparing for its opening. On Nov. 2 during a tour of the new Costco, managers said the Linda store had just received the bulk of its merchandise as it prepared to welcome in members.
Costco, which according to its website is a multi-billion dollar global retailer with warehouse club operations in eight countries, is unlike other big box or retail stores. It requires shoppers to have a membership with the company. One manager previously told the Appeal that the Linda location already had at least 2,000-3,000 member sign ups, not including residents who may already have Costco memberships due to locations in surrounding communities such as Roseville and Chico.
The expected economic impact Costco will have on Yuba County and the region could be profound. Costco personnel told the Appeal earlier this month that more than 6,000 people have applied for positions at the Linda location and as many as 200 local hires have already been made. One manager, however, said there already has been turnover because of the delay in opening, so the store was still in the process of hiring more employees.
"Today is just to show you we are a collective team organization. It took many of us to partner together, from the support of our board to our leadership to even our building department and so on and so forth, to really watch this project evolve," Rachel Downs, business and community engagement manager for Yuba County, told several Costco managers on Nov. 2. "So we wanted to show up in a collective embrace to celebrate you guys and then also for that company culture that you have to support that and make this kind of a Costco company town as you're bringing new jobs and you're shopping in the stores and you're hiring our moms and our brothers and so on and so forth. Collectively, we support you. We're excited to be with you. ... We're glad you're here."