Tomorrow Costco (Issaquah, Wash.) opens a new Costco Business Center in Minneapolis. Catering to small business owners, the stores specialize in service industry offerings for businesses like restaurants and convenience stores, as well as hotels.
Adding to its fleet of 16 business-focused stores nationwide, the store will be open to all Costco members. Roughly 70 percent of the product on shelves cannot be found in traditional Costco stores, including commercial grade products.
The store will feature an 11,000-square-foot walk-in freezer with three temperature zones, according to the Minneapolis StarTribune, where things like 50-pound boxes of ground beef or carcasses of pigs, goats and sheep can be found.
Product organization is also handled differently at the business centers. Rather than leading customers on a “scavenger hunt,” ultimately influencing them to spend more, items are neatly organized to reduce the time spent in stores. In the U.S., Costco currently operates 520 traditional stores and business centers, and it plans to add two to three business centers and about 30 traditional stores per year.