The Only State Where You Can Shop At A 2-Story Costco

Typical Costco warehouses are 146,000 square feet. That can make it overwhelming for new shoppers trying to decide what to buy on a first-time trip. But there are a couple of Costco locations that take this experience quite literally to the next level. There are only a pair of two-story Costco warehouses in America, and both are located in the same state. One is in Port Chester, New York. The other, Costco's first two-story warehouse built back in 1996, is in Brooklyn. 

Costco is no stranger to unique architecture. Unlike many chains, Costco doesn't require uniform exteriors and layouts. The company adapts to the space available. Some locations are entirely subterranean, like the one in San Francisco that sits beneath two levels of underground parking. In general, however, Costco prefers to have the whole store on a single floor. Almost every retailer prefers it this way, as it's a matter of cost and logistics. 

In dense urban places like New York, where land is more expensive and a lot of red tape comes with development, companies need to make the most of limited territory. As Costco CFO Richard Galanti told CBS News when the brand began moving into malls in 2010, Costco "can't always find the 10 or 12 acres needed to build a store," so it has to use the space available. Because of that, Costco found itself building up instead of out.

Both the Port Chester and Brooklyn Costco locations keep food upstairs and separate from other items sold downstairs. Despite their space-saving designs, these stores are criticized for being chaotic and hard to navigate. They can get so crowded that it's hard to tell where the line to check out stops and starts. Also, if you have never been to one, it can be hard to track down the free samples that are not available on both floors. Plus, their cramped parking lots are another feature to add to the list of annoying things about shopping at Costco.

According to the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, multi-level warehouses face some significant challenges in most cases. Parking becomes an issue, as do the logistics of getting shopping carts full of groceries from one floor to another. Stores also need employees to operate and maintain equipment, and there is a risk of breakdowns and accidents. While some videos showing how Costco manages such problems can make the shopping experience look fun, the additional floor clearly contributes to increased logistical complexity. On the brighter side, the association notes there are some emerging solutions to these problems, which may make multi-level warehouses more common in the future.

Of course, there are multi-level Costcos in other countries, too. Internationally, you can find two-story Costco locations in Taiwan and South Korea. If you want to go even taller, the Makuhari one in Chiba City, Japan, is three stories.