Tag: Costco on Overlea

Meeting held regarding new Costco store

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The meeting in Thorncliffe Park last night to discuss plans by Costco has apparently gone well. Tenants association contacts say the plans for a store and service station were well-received and that it appears there will be few “heritage” issues to the demolition of the 1965 Coca Cola office and bottling plant at 42-46 Overlea Blvd. Plans must go to North Community Council for approval and a recommendation to City Council.  The next North York meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 10, 2013. Previous post. 

Costco store members average higher spending

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The interest now being shown by Costco Wholesale in the Coca Cola property on Overlea Blvd plays to the membership retailer’s capacity to draw well-heeled consumers long distances to shop there. It’s thought the average income of a Costco member is about $70,000, much higher than that of the average Walmart shopper, or even those who shop at Target. It is also said that the average Costco shopper enters the store planning to spend $50 and instead buys between $350 and $500. That’s why Costco’s hope to start a store on Overlea across the street from the  East York Town Centre has the potential to draw both customers and more businesses to the neighborhood. There is concern in Thorncliffe Park for local business if a Coscto opens but in fact it seems likely that local stores would do no less business than they now do if Costco goes ahead. This would be especially true in the Town Centre where many better off Costco shoppers from mid-town neighborhoods would find their way into the mall across the street. Previous post. 

Costco making plans to open on Overlea Blvd.

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As rumoured earlier this year, Costco Wholesale Corporation, the famous membership-only warehouse club, has plans to open a store on property now owned by Coca Cola on Overlea Blvd.  The plans have become public with the announcement of a meeting on Wednesday June 19, 2013 organized by John Parker (Ward 26) and comments made to the South Bayview Bulldog by Abbas Kolia, head of the Thorncliffe Park Tenants Association. The meeting is described in the notice from Mr. Parker’s office as an opportunity to discuss “possible redevelopment” of the Coca Cola site. It was vacated this spring by the soft drink maker to move downtown to new headquarters on King Street East. In the meantime, preservationists have persuaded the city to make the 1965 buildings part of the “heritage inventory”.  This means the site is effectively frozen until and unless agreement is reached to change it. This move is seen less as an effort to save anything historic or culturally valuable at the site than to control what any new owner may wish to do. The Coke office building is frequently said to exhibit “Mad Men”  (Madison Avenue) characteristics in the Mid-Century Modern style. Architects will appreciate this. As to Costco, it is said unofficially by Mr Kolia that the discussion so far suggests a new store with employment for as many as 150 people from Ward 26 (which includes Thorncliffe Park). One hundred of these are said to be planned as permanent jobs, 50 are said to be part time. The meeting is scheduled at the Jenner Jean-Marie Centre at 48 Thorncliffe Park Drive between 7 and 9 p.m. on June 19, 2013.

Coke site on Overlea an attractive big box space

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It is now more than a year since Coca Cola Limited began to talk about its move to downtown Toronto from the property on Overlea Boulevard. It is an enormous property which includes the general offices and bottling companies of the soft drink maker as well as parking for cars and trucks that never seems to stop. The mystery of just what the future holds for  the nicely located space is even greater because it does not appear that Coke has the place listed anywhere. That may happen but can it be that Coke is quietly cycling the property around to those who might have an interest?  Either way, the layperson’s guessing game of just what might work at this location is definitely on. As we know, it sits across the street from the East York Town Centre where each day the new Target  store comes closer to opening. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see how a Target competitor — Walmart, Costco — might wish to set up across the street. The location might even suit a big box grocer like Metro. One thing is certain, there is more to be heard on this topic.