DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM People lined up yesterday morning for the grand opening of Costco's Iwilei store. Its Salt Lake location, the company's first in Hawaii, closed for good Tuesday night, just hours before the new outlet opened.

Costco rates Iwilei
opening a success

---

Star-Bulletin Staff

Costco Wholesale Corp. said it had a solid opening yesterday at its new 150,000-square-foot store in Iwilei, where the firm relocated from its Salt Lake store.

"It's going good, going as expected," Costco manager Robert Loomis said yesterday afternoon. "So far we've had 3,785 customers, and we've been open for 7 hours." Doors opened at 8 a.m.

The company is still thinking of putting gas pumps next to the Iwilei store, but that part of the project has been delayed, according to Costco's regional office in Southern California.

Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco operates some 390 warehouses worldwide, including 286 in the United States, 60 in Canada, 20 in Mexico, 14 in the United Kingdom and 10 in Asia. The firm has said it plans to open approximately 22 to 24 more warehouses later this year, including relocations to other sites.

The Iwilei Costco has 360 employees, Loomis said.