All of those stores are in Charlottetown. If someone doesn't think it would be worth the trip to Summerside just to shop at Costco, having those other stores isn't going to convince them because they are all already in Charlottetown.

Anyway, do people seriously think Costco would locate in Summerside over Charlottetown?

Not to mention Brothers Two, Michaels Pizza, Summerside Storm, various sporting events, etc.etc.etc.

People on PEI are not as shut in as some would like to think.
They will drive for more than 5 minutes to go somewhere.

Cavendish Music Festival. 60k+ people. How on earth could they manage that when they are not in Charlottetown?

The population difference isn't insignificant. Charlottetown has twice as many people as Summerside. And it's even more if you look at surrounding areas like Cornwall and Stratford versus Wellington and Kinkora.

Yep. I do.
The only thing holding back industry is this negative crap that everyone seems to fish for whenever things like this are discussed.

Companies like Costco will look are far more variables than just the short sighted idea that people think others won't drive for 30 minutes to buy their product. They know better.
If Summerside offers them a better value as far as municipal taxes and land price then of course they will build there.

If they had concerts seven days a week, they wouldn't manage it.

A company like Costco isn't going to build a giant warehouse 45 minutes away from the major centre in small place like PEI to save a few dollars in taxes and land price. They'd lose a lot more in lost sales.

On a 140 mile long Island those are insignificant numbers.
People are more than willing to drive to Moncton and Halifax for crap they can already buy here. They will be more than willing to drive to Summerside.

Costco is not an every day shopping event for the vast majority. People go there to buy in bulk. A weekly or semi-weekly trip would be sufficient for the majority of their clientele so local demographic has far less to do with it.

Nor would Charlottetown or any other venue. What is your point?
My point is that they DO manage it even though there are many more options in Charlottetown.

If you HONESTLY think that a Costco would be built in Summerside over Charlottetown, you need to get your head checked.

You're talking like Summerside is some kind of bustling metropolis, it's not. Take a drive in downtown Summerside sometime, dead, dead dead. There's nothing there.

As for all those big box stores you mentioned, we do all of our shopping in Summerside because they are almost NEVER busy. I can be in and out of the Summerside Sobeys/Walmart/Superstore in half the time as it would take me in Charlottetown.

Explain how you were able to deduce that from my posts.

I guess all those store you say you shop at because they are so slow are just staying open because they wouldn't want to offend the few customers that go there?

I was addressing the point that Summerside has nothing to offer, nothing more.

I guess you've never heard of the Ottawa Senators.
Why on earth would they ever think of building a stadium and having their hockey team in Kanata when they could have sold far more seats if they were in downtown Ottawa?

For the record, on any given night it takes longer to drive from Ottawa to Kanata than it does from Charlottetown to Summerside.

Things like hockey games and music festivals aren't depending on casual consumers of their products. Going to a hockey game isn't a spur of the moment decision for the vast majority of their customers, neither is a music festival.

You are fond of pointing out others false analogies (apples and oranges!), this one is a doozy!

It's not a false analogy.
Costco is not a spur of the moment type of purchase.
People go there to buy in bulk. Also known as an occasional visit.
How is that different?

The only savings value at Costco is to buy in bulk so why would one visit there several times a week as they would a standard supermarket.

If people are going to Costco several times a week then i guarantee they can get an equal value for their dollar at any of the stores we already have accessible.

If it were a false analogy then there would be NO Superstore and NO Sobey's in any region where there is already a Costco.

That, as you are fond of pointing out, is a pretty easy concept to grasp.

My point is that it is a one weekend event so the location is pretty much irrelevant. If they had to put on concerts everyday, then location would be a huge factor and it wouldn't be located in Cavendish just like Costco wouldn't choose Summerside over Charlottetown.

With regards to the milk story - the lady stated she had 4 teen boys at home.

Now if you have ever had a teen boy - then you know that having milk in the house is a constant struggle. They seem to woof it down the moment it comes in the door. The best part of the deal is they never dirty a glass - preferring to suck it right out of the jug.

But I also question her numbers since milk is a regulated product - and the only way she could have those savings is if the set price in NS and NB is lower then here and they are selling it at cost.


Phil

If you go to Scarborough ("Tronno") you'll find 8 Costcos within 10 minutes of each other at most. Check it out on Google Maps, key in "costco in toronto". These Costcos are competing with each other - yet the H/O deemed it worthy of each of them.

Now put a Costco in PEI, just the one, and look at the Costco's competition... it has no competition from another Costco unless you wish to travel off-island at expense.

Charlottetown already has a thriving economy which gets better with more businesses - however when too many businesses locate here it squeezes the juice from the outlying economies of Montague, S'side etc.

People from all over PEI head to Charlottetown to shop, as do the "Charlottans" head to Moncton to shop.

When Wal-Mart opened in Charlottetown all the nearby businesses did better as a result because it brought all that economy here (hurting the Charlottetown downtown of course). Wherever a Costco is put it will draw business.

Most of the companies listed in a post earlier are in both Charlottetown and Summerside, and some have 2 or 3 in each town competing with each other.

I put all the above paragraphs out there to lead up to this: If you put a Costco in PEI and wish to best help the PEI economy instead of just the Charlottetown economy the best place is Summerside.

I don't think Summerside has anything that Ch'town doesn't, so no other draws. (ok Michael's Pizza - give them that)

Think if they shut down the Ch'town Walmart that the Summerside one would make up the difference is sales volume?

Don't think so.

This is too funny,arguing over where a proposed store might go if it came to the Island.

Not really.

If you think for a moment you will realize that Costco is paying a great deal of attention to this convo.

So are the various contractors.

Phil