Mostly for your business
Business Centers provide a different
mix and are open to all Costco members
By David Wight
COSTCO MEMBERS IN six West Coast
metropolitan areas are fortunate to have a
resource available to them that they may not
have explored yet: a Costco Business Center.
On the surface these centers appear to be
identical to all the other Costco warehouses.
Some of them have a Costco gas station on the
property, and two—Commerce and San
Diego in California—even have Food Courts.
But the real differences are apparent only after
you enter and discover the thousands of items
not available at regular Costco warehouses.
The product selection is geared to support
members who operate convenience stores or
food-service businesses, and also includes an
expanded range of office supplies, furniture
and janitorial supplies essential in the operation of just about any type of business.
All of the locations except San Diego also
have a Costco Print and Copy Center, providing black-and-white and color copying, booklet and presentation production, and a variety
of promotional products, including business
cards, banners, menus and custom apparel for
businesses, schools, churches, teams and
other organizations.
The convenience-store product mix covers
the full spectrum of candy, chips, gum, beverages and tobacco resale items, in abundance,
along with all the necessary disposables and
merchandising fixtures. The Costco bakeries at
these centers even individually wrap cookies
and muffins with the resale market in mind.
FRANCE FREEMAN
Costco’s eight Business Centers cater
especially to restaurants, convenience
stores and professional offices.
You won’t find the latest consumer electronics at a Business Center, but you will find
video security systems, electric time clocks,
cash registers, mailing-label printers and
other business electronics.
Apparel? Not unless you’re looking for
what a chef might wear. Speaking of chefs,
even the hobby cook will be fascinated by the
selection of pots and pans, utensils, food serving and storage products, and just about anything else you can think of in regard to slicing,
dicing or preparing food.
Coffeehouses, pizzerias and restaurants,
along with schools, churches, daycare centers
and nursing homes, are among the food-service providers that regularly stock up at the
Business Centers. In fact, 75 percent of the
food offered at Business Centers is not available at regular Costco warehouses.
Business Center locations
Arizona: Phoenix
California: Los Angeles (Commerce
and Hawthorne), San Diego and
San Francisco Bay Area (Hayward)
Nevada: Las Vegas
Washington: Puget Sound area
(Lynnwood and Fife)
Check warehouse locations on Costco.com
for the full address or to download a map
and driving directions.
Hours of operation
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to
6 p.m.; Saturday, 9: 30 a.m. to 6 p.m.;
closed Sunday
Order for delivery
three ways
Online: Visit Costco.com and
click on “Business Delivery”
Phone: 1-800-788-9968
Fax: 1-877-292-8798
Each Business Center is specifically located
in an area with a high concentration of small
businesses as well as excellent highway access
for the fleet of Costco trucks that conduct regular delivery of products to businesses within a
50-mile radius of each center.
While it makes sense for a Business
Member to shop at these specialty warehouses, all members can shop there, regardless of Costco membership type. When you
do go, expect a whole new dimension to the
Costco treasure-hunt experience. Just show
your Costco card at the door. C
