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Wholesale retail behemoth Costco has bought up land near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as consumer spending shifts more toward discount retailers.
Costco paid $40M last month for 33 acres along Roosevelt Highway, straddling the cities of Union City and South Fulton near its distribution center at 4250 South Fulton Parkway, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. TPA Group, which had amassed the acreage over the past few years, sold the property to Costco.
The big-box retailer, which sells grocery and household goods in bulk at discount, is pushing up the number of new stores it opens each year from 23 to 30 within the next decade, including geographical expansion with new stores in Canada, Taiwan, Japan and Australia, Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said during a May earnings call.
Costco is being pushed by the same tailwinds helping other discount retailers’ performance over the past year. More than 60% of consumers were hunting for bargains this year, with 57.9% switching to cheaper food and grocery brands, according to a GlobalData consumer poll reported by CoStar.
That shift in consumer sentiment is propelling the expansion of other discount retailers, including Five Below, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar General, which opened more than 1,000 stores this year so far.
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