Maybe they should put a shooting gallery there instead.

You can't make this stuff up. I swear The Onion would have a field day in this town reporting the real news.

And remind me again ... what separates a Costco, Wal-Mart, Target, and IKEA? A bicycle giveaway as an annual bonus so the employees can tool around in the huge parking lot outside?

Wait...

What about the proposed Costco at Yeon & Nicolai...on the property the city now wants to use as a "storage yard"?

What about the opposition to the huge amount of traffic - vehicular traffic - that a Costco brings?

What about the opposition to a big box store (yes, at the end of the day, Costco is just a big box store - one big, pre-cast concrete big box store.)?

What about the opposition to companies that don't keep dollars locally - how many items that Costco sells are procured right here in Portland?

What about the traffic and CO2 emissions that a Costco would place in the Rose Quarter area? How many people will realistically use the Streetcar to shop at Costco?

What about the planned mixed-use, transit-oriented development that was supposed to go there? Nobody is going to live upstairs from Costco.

What's wrong with the school district offices there???? Why should we blow educational tax dollars to move a district office that has existed there just fine for many years?

And...at this point, why is the city stonewalling WalMart? Might as well let them build 20 stores...only God knows that Freddy's and Target could use some head-to-head competition.

Big difference to me. Costco has decent quality stuff and seems to treat it's employees well. As there are no major retailers bawed here any more one with it's headquarters in the NW seems a good second best. I'd patronize them whereas I probaBly would not Wal-Mart. They get enough profit off of me indirectly through tHeir corporate welfare.

Well, they couldn't have done anything to make a bigger lie of all their transit and bike pontificating and the hot air about "Jumptown" and the hot air about promoting small and medium sized local businesses, that's for sure. You couldn't make this stuff up.

On the good side, the Costco dog beats any of the 100 mega-national fast food chains over there on both price and quality.

Here's what bothers me...

Why aren't national media focusing more negative attention on this baloney? What's the deal? Seems like headliner copy or a good in-depth investigative story at least.

Relax. It's right there in the first sentence.

Sam Adams is leading the effort.

And another thing...

Doesn't FEMA have something to say about all this hobbling of the evacuation routes out of the city? That magnitude 9.0 earthquake is a certainty, just as another eruption of Mt. Hood is. Is Portland sacred or is it considered expendable?

I bought the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in at the Costco out near the airport. It came in a shrink-wrapped package the size of a large suitcase and expanded to a queen size bed when I broke the vacuum seal.

And everyone can take home their beds and 60 rolls of toilet paper and 48 rolls of paper towels and 4 cases of soda and 450 oz boxes of Cherrios home on the MAX and the cute little trolley.
A study to see if this is possible? Yeah! right! It is probably already a done deal! The check is already deposited in an offshore account.
Go by streetcar!

There are Costco stores in urban locations. Some people drive to them; others don't. It works.

Where?

"Some people drive to them; others don't"

Which Costco stores don't people drive to? The only one I can think of is the one in SF in SoMa and that has a huge garage (with free parking which drives the city nutz I'm sure.)

If that is going to be your guide, then I'd think a WalMart or Fred's would be better since it has a broader range in more, ahem, transit-friendly packaging.

Still the whole idea is to stick as much biz as they can within a stone's throw of the MAX and then claim they moved there because of the MAX which is why we need to get MAX to Boring now!

So this is another Ikea. Sold as "transit-oriented development" and then will get a 1200 car parking lot.
Hey, at least I can get a cheap hot dog for lunch during the work week, and its just a free, short train ride away.

Seeing the effect that a dinky little New Seasons has had on traffic on upper Hawthorne, I shudder to think what a brand new Costco will do to traffic on Grand/MLK. Yikes.

And, I'm pro-Costco, pro-MAX, but it's completely absurd to think that anyone is going to do anything but drive to CostCo. They sell huge quantities of things there. That's kind of the point.

SF and Seattle come to mind. I would welcome an urban Costco in Portland. Costco is well run. Another Fred Meyer would add nothing. A Wal-Mart would subtract.

Allan L.: Sorry to tell you, but we were in our local Costco on Sunday; and from looking around it seems like a lot of their tools and furniture items are now made in China.

Jon--you really think that train ride is going to be free for very much longer?

I want to know who would pay to move the school district offices to a new location. And, does the City have the authority to condemn government buildings of another jurisdiction? How else would they get them out of that location other than to buy/build/furnish a new place? Neither the City nor PPS are exactly flush with money these days, so this seems like a lose-lose to me.

I like Costco in SF (Downtown) in SoMA and its usually not real busy compared to say the Costco in Tigard.... I would welcome a Costco in Downtown PDX to ease the load at the Costco in Tigard.

"Another Fred Meyer would add nothing. A Wal-Mart would subtract."

Anything besides your say-so? If you look at the demographics of who gets served by WalMart vs. CostCo, I think that's the issue that bugs people. I realize WalMart serves the lower income people and god forbid we should let those near the Pearl district or downtown.

As far as CostCo being a better deal, I'd dare you to find the same size package at CostCo vs. WalMart and it'll not be different.

Where CostCo makes its money is two ways:
- Groomed clientele. You need a card and they won't take VISA or MC. So their bad check loss is lower.
- Volume. If you want chicken necks you need to buy 20 pounds of them instead of smaller serving sizes than WM or FM.

Why is the government involved in this in the first place? Who gives a rip if it is supported by Sam Adams? If Costco wants to open a store in the area, let them buy the land and build it. Keep the government -- and my tax $s out of it.

"Who gives a rip if it is supported by Sam Adams?"

Gerding-Edlen and Homer

Steve - I looked at Costco's financial statements a few years ago and determined that they make nearly all their profit from membership fees. They earn very little by selling food and merchandise.

"They earn very little by selling food and merchandise."

I understand and that's what's kind of troubling since most of the stuff you can compare (e.g. flat-screens and Computers) do not have a price edge over the competition.

I will admit, they do attract higher-income customers though.

This is an absolute traffic nightmare.
Anyone who uses I-5 downtown knows how traffic grinds to a halt @ the junction of the 405 & I-84 ramps. The downtown ramp to Broadway (from the north, where most of the vehicle traffic would come from, just look at all the Washington plates @ the Sandy Costco)- would back up INTO south-bound and merging traffic.
And what about the return trip? More traffic volume south on MLK to the METERED Morrison on-ramp? Or perhaps my favorite - north on Interstate and take your pick which neighborhood residential street to haul arse through to avoid the 2:30 - 7:00 daily north-bound back-up?
We could demand that all north-bound traffic exiting Costco have to run up Greely - into Kenton - to Argyle and the Interstate entrance. However, it's not their fault (Kenton residents) that Adams lives there.

I hate to say this, but is it possible that 'traffic nightmare' is the real reason the city wants to promote this? It fits with many other goals.

Anything besides your say-so? If you look at the demographics of who gets served by WalMart vs. CostCo, I think that's the issue that bugs people. I realize WalMart serves the lower income people and god forbid we should let those near the Pearl district or downtown.

Nope, just an opinion, like most of the comments here. I will say, though, that I think Wal-Mart's low prices, subsidized by the miserable plight of its employees, seduce many price-conscious consumers into acting against their own interests. I would rather do business with a company that doesn't as blatantly or directly exploit its workers and customers, even if it does sell Chinese goods (is there any other kind?).

I will say, though, that I think Wal-Mart's low prices, subsidized by the miserable plight of its employees, seduce many price-conscious consumers into acting against their own interests. I would rather do business with a company that doesn't as blatantly or directly exploit its workers and customers, even if it does sell Chinese goods (is there any other kind?).

Do you even know anyone who works for Walmart?

I do. She loves it there. Good benefits, $15/hr as a checker. Not bad for only having a HS diploma.

I understand and that's what's kind of troubling since most of the stuff you can compare (e.g. flat-screens and Computers) do not have a price edge over the competition.

I dont know about that. I just bought a TV at Costco on Sunday. The TV I bought was priced 25% lower than the retail anywhere else locally. And Costco adds a year to the manufacturer's warranty. On top of all that, the only one they had left was the display model, and they took an additional 25% off the sale price for me.

Here's another "I hate to say this". What's "sustainable" about moving PPS Headquarters with their valuable land and building to another part of Portland? I thought Sam looked at everything as requiring "sustainability".

Oh, just put a green roof on a Costco and that will do it. What a hypocrite.

Downtown Vancouver BC Costco:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=vancouver,+bc+costco&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=56.724997,135.263672&ie=UTF8&hq=costco&hnear=Vancouver,+Greater+Vancouver+Regional+District,+British+Columbia,+Canada&ll=49.277877,-123.110323&spn=0,0.132093&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=49.277957,-123.11016&panoid=nrFStfKvCb5gFwTm9HJopg&cbp=12,16.91,,0,-12.25

It can work in an urban environment. Better than this Jumptown nonsense -- although that is another development in the area from my knowledge and nothing to do with this parcel of land.

As a nearby resident, I would have preferred the old plan of putting a Major League Baseball team in that location (provided the owner would pay for it!) but, certainly prefer a Costco to most of the suggested uses of that space. The idea that people are going to go by train to shop at a Costco is probably not going to prove true, but that should not be a deal killer. As with any possible baseball deal, the Costco, or whatever, needs to be 100% paid for by ownership: NOT by the taxpayers.

If they build Parking underneath the Costco, then I'm cool with it.