Costco breaks ground on new West St. Paul store

RM of WEST ST. PAUL — Bulldozers and a crane mark the first signs of Costco’s arrival in West St. Paul.

Construction has begun on the American retail corporation’s newest Manitoba store. Developers expect the 162,000-square-foot facility will open in August 2027.

“’When are they breaking ground?’ is … what we’ve heard over the last couple years,” West St. Paul Mayor Peter Truijen said Tuesday.

He celebrated the beginning of construction during a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday. A yearlong timeline is “a good starting point” for all the Costco Wholesale members anxious for the new hub, he said.

It will be Costco’s first rural Manitoba warehouse. Plans include a retail operation, garden centre, eatery, auto service station and more than 1,000 parking stalls over 21 acres, spanning 71 and 81 Meadowlands Dr.

The site is south of the Perimeter Highway and west of Main Street, on the north edge of Winnipeg.

Crews are preparing the area for the behemoth store, said Warren Greenspoon, chief executive of United Equities Group.

Costco Wholesale didn’t respond to a media request by end of day Tuesday.

United Equities Group is selling commercial lots for Meadowlands, the burgeoning 380-acre West St. Paul neighbourhood that Costco will be part of.

About 30 acres of commercial development is left, Greenspoon said.

Jagjit Gill will take a portion. He’s constructing the fourth Gill’s Supermarket, an East Indian grocery chain, across from the new Costco.

“(Costco) is great, good to bring in traffic,” Gill said. “We don’t have any competition with Costco — our business is totally different.”

He’s planning to build a 30,000-sq.-ft. strip mall. Gill’s Supermarket will consume 10,000 sq. ft.; another eight to 10 businesses will fill the latter space, Gill said.

He’s expecting to start construction in November, with leasing to follow in 2027. The mall could open near the end of 2027 or beginning of 2028.

Gill said he picked the location because, increasingly, his customers live in the Rural Municipality of West St. Paul. He chose the space before learning of Costco’s plans, he added.

The RM has logged 300 new home builds annually over the past three to four years, Truijen said.

“We don’t see that changing for the next couple years,” he said. “Other developments still have to fill out.”

Phase 3 of Meadowlands is beginning; it includes 134 single-family lots.

Across the Perimeter, Parkview Pointe has 90 multifamily units opening soon, Truijen said. Another two in-the-works developments could create 200 more homes, he said.

“I think (Costco’s investment) shows that West St. Paul is continuing to grow,” Truijen said. “Costco chose to open in West St. Paul.”

He pointed to the RM’s location — between Winnipeg and Selkirk — as a reason for the steady expansion. Residents work in both cities, he noted. He estimates around 10,000 people now live in West St. Paul. (In 2021, the federal government counted 6,682 people.)

Wayne Wagner regularly visits his daughter’s West St. Paul home to watch her dogs. Most nearby lots are under construction, he said Tuesday.

He sipped a drink in the Meadowlands parking lot of a new McDonald’s restaurant. He’s planning to swap his Regent Avenue West Costco runs for West St. Paul treks.

“It’s great,” Wagner, who lives in Garden City, said of the new warehouse. “It’ll be much closer, more convenient.”

Costco’s magnetism could draw new customers to Windsor Plywood, roughly one kilometre away, said employee Darrell Lockheart.

“I think it’s going to be very convenient for all of us,” Lockheart said, adding he’ll also use Costco’s new pharmacy.

Costco Wholesale opened its fourth Manitoba location, at 4077 Portage Ave., in November 2025. It launched 1315 St. James St. as a business centre warehouse in May; the site was a standard warehouse before.

Costco is opening seven new United States locations in August. It reported US$23.12 billion in sales this July, up 10.7 per cent from July 2025.

The Washington-based company counts 933 warehouses, including 115 in Canada.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com