Wholesale giant Costco opens new warehouse in Ardeer, thousands flock for opening day

Thousands of Costco members have flocked to the wholesale giant’s new warehouse in Ardeer to snag an opening-day bargain. See the wackiest items up for grabs.

Thousands of customers have flocked to wholesale giant Costco’s new warehouse in Ardeer to snag an opening-day bargain.

Costco officially unveiled its new 16,000sq m warehouse on Ballarat Rd on Wednesday, stocked to the brim with everything from bulk grocery items to a luxury golf cart.

Members were queuing outside before the store had even opened, many of them eyeing off the item of the day — a pack of premium Pokemon cards — which quickly sold out for $219 each.

Thousands of Costco members flocked to Ardeer to shop at the wholesaler’s new warehouse. Picture: Grace Frost

By midday, it was taking customers more than an hour to crawl 800m off the Ring Road and on to Ballarat Rd, with Costco’s new 760-space car park struggling to cope with the influx of shoppers.

Traffic didn’t get much better inside as members crowded around the new sushi bar, stocked their trolleys full of bulk-packed red meat and queued for free samples.

On display inside, an $18,000 electric golf cart, giant teddy bears selling for $400 each, a 100-inch Hisense TV, an electric go-kart for $3000 and even a human-sized dog bed for $300.

Giant teddy bears were priced at $399.99 on opening day. Picture: Grace Frost

A luxury golf cart sells for $18,000. Picture: Grace Frost

Human-sized dog beds on sale for $299.99 at Costco Ardeer. Picture: Grace Frost

Costco Australia and NZ’s marketing and eCommerce director Megan Belanger said the wholesaler’s bulk value and quality products kept members coming back to the store.

“Our members are able to put money back in their pocket to spend on things that maybe they hadn’t planned to,” she said.

That was the case for customer Fred El, who walked in for eggs and milk and ended up picking up an air-fryer, vacuum cleaner and pressure cooker.

“A lot of things I didn’t think I would need, but they were so cheap, I couldn’t resist it,” he said.

Costco member Fred El walked in for eggs and milk and left with a vacuum, air fryer and pressure cooker. Picture: Grace Frost

He called the store “unbelievable” and said the 40-minute wait in traffic before a 40-minute hunt for a car park was well worth it.

“It’s great, you just get off the freeway and you’re here,” he said.

Mason August shows off the family grocery cart. Picture: Grace Frost

Opposite the warehouse, drivers flooded into the members-only petrol station, the biggest Costco station in Australia, where they filled up for just 153.7c — 33.7c cheaper than the average in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Members crowd the aisles hunting for opening-day bargains. Picture: Grace Frost

The opening day chaos comes after the closure of the Docklands warehouse, which was the first Costco building to open in Australia back in 2009.

Ms Belanger said the new Ardeer location 20 minutes from Docklands had been built to service Melbourne’s booming west.

“We’ve moved here to Ardeer to be a bigger warehouse — we’re able to have a fuel station here, and just a larger more convenient shopping option for our members.

“Also, this is a huge growth area for the Melbourne market.”

Originally published as Wholesale giant Costco opens new warehouse in Ardeer, thousands flock for opening day