All-Out Effort to Attract to Pohang City, Costco Staff Visit Pohang on the 4th
Delegation to Visit Pohang at the End of April... To Review Store Entry Conditions and More
As Pohang City actively pursues the attraction of large warehouse-style retail facilities, which have effects comparable to attracting companies in terms of strengthening urban competitiveness and improving residential conditions, favorable winds are blowing on the route to attracting Costco.
On the 4th, Costco's working-level staff visited Pohang City Hall to discuss Pohang's development potential and store entry environment. It was announced that an unusual visit by the Costco delegation to City Hall is scheduled for the end of April to directly assess the conditions for opening a store in Pohang.
This achievement comes as many local citizens strongly desire the entry of a warehouse-style large mart, and Pohang City has made several visits to Costco headquarters to convey a strong intention to attract the store, demonstrating active efforts.
Costco, a membership-based warehouse wholesale discount store, is the world's third-largest retailer with 871 stores in 14 countries, currently operating 18 stores nationwide in South Korea.
However, most stores are concentrated in the metropolitan area and large cities, and there are currently no stores in North Gyeongsang Province. Costco is planning to open a store in Cheongna, Incheon, and is also scheduled to open a new store in Jeju Island in 2026.
Costco is a distribution company with an annual domestic sales volume of about 6 trillion KRW (approximately 300 billion KRW per store). If it opens a store locally, it is expected to have economic ripple effects such as job creation and attracting consumption in nearby areas, as well as improving residential conditions and enhancing convenience of life.
In particular, a significant portion of employees are women in their 40s and 50s, mostly regular workers with excellent wage systems and welfare benefits, so new female employment creation effects are also anticipated.
Due to these expected benefits, some local governments are competing to attract Costco by offering various conditions such as free rental land, and recently, Pohang City has also entered the competition and is focusing administrative power on active attraction activities.
The new store entry conditions proposed by Costco include ▲ a population of 1 million living within 30 minutes by car ▲ a region where businesses supporting economic development are active ▲ securing a site of 33,000㎡ (10,000 pyeong).
Pohang is a key city on the East Coast encompassing adjacent cities and counties such as Gyeongju and Yeongdeok, with a population of 700,000 in the same living area. It is a region where future new industries such as secondary batteries and bio-industries are being activated. If affordable land can be secured, the possibility of attracting Costco to Pohang is very positive, according to analysis.
Additionally, Pohang City's ‘Global Corporate Innovation Park,’ promoted as a corporate-led growth hub, was finally selected in a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport public contest and will be established throughout Pohang over the next five years. Therefore, the city is going all-in on attracting large retail facilities to improve living convenience and residential conditions in response to population growth.
A city official said, “It is rare for the delegation to visit the region directly, so we expect to receive a positive response. Warehouse-style large retail facilities prevent income outflow and attract consumption from nearby areas, greatly revitalizing the local economy and creating jobs. Pohang City will concentrate all administrative power to attract Costco.”
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