Costco on the East side

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

A lot of factors play into a final decision whether Costco builds in East Hawaii. At the start of the construction boom in the mid 2000's, Costco was negotiating for one of the land leases where Safeway & Target are now located. The population of the east side was increasing, and many of the people moving here were potential Costco customers. As the land lease negotiations continued, other companies became interested in that property, for the same reasons Costco wanted to locate in Hilo. While that was going on, the cost of construction continued to increase to match the higher prices that homes and buildings were then selling at. There came a point when the price of the land lease and the cost of construction increased beyond what Costco's cost analysis and population projections showed would make a store viable for our area.