Want A Costco Near You? Here's How To Suggest A New Location

There are over 905 Costco warehouses worldwide, with 624 locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, as of this writing. Despite the warehouse giant's ubiquity, there are still three states that don't have any Costco locations: Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Wyoming. If you don't have a Costco in your city or state, you can suggest a new location for the company to consider, and you don't even have to visit a store to do so. But before submitting a request, check Costco website's list of stores opening soon to see if your area is already scheduled to get one.

To petition Costco for a new store, use the feedback feature on the company's website or app using your desktop, laptop, or mobile device. To use your desktop or laptop, go to Costco.com, look for a blue tab sticking out from the right-hand side of the screen labeled "Feedback" and click it. If you're accessing the website using a mobile device, scroll to the bottom of the homepage and select the "Feedback" option.

You can recommend a new location through the Costco mobile app. On an iPhone, tap the "More" button on the app's homepage, then choose "App Feedback." On an Android device, tap "Account" at the bottom of the home page, then under the "Help" menu, select "Feedback."

Many factors determine where Costco opens its warehouses. One of the biggest is whether a community will support the store by shopping there, which likely explains why California has more Costco locations than any other U.S. state. If there isn't a strong market for a new store based on the population, level of public interest, community backing, or municipal support, then it may not be a good financial decision for the company.

Other considerations include local infrastructure and the availability and accessibility of land. The average size of a Costco warehouse is 140,000 square feet. The largest Costco location, in Salt Lake City, Utah, spans 235,000 square feet, while the smallest, in Juneau, Alaska is 76,696 square feet. If there isn't sufficient space or easy access to a potential site, it may not be practical to build there. When the Juneau store was built, Costco was testing whether a smaller-market model could work, and the company ultimately decided that it would not.

Finally, Costco considers local competition and the shopping habits of its target demographic. If the residents of a potential market is already loyal to another big-box store such as WinCo or Sam's Club, Costco may face too much competition. Still, even in rural areas with smaller populations, a Costco might make sense if there are no existing grocery warehouse options.