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Trying to figure out why there isn't a Costco here in Brandon. The numbers they would do here would be literally off the charts.

A busy costco logs between 300-600 admissions every 30 minutes. Pretty sure Brandon and surroundings can't come close to that.

Here's some interesting facts I learned about the WalMart here in Brandon not long ago:  
-It is the third highest grossing WalMart in Canada.  
- It leads the country at #1 in online sales.  
This is because of the community of people that use WalMart in Brandon. Knowing this, it would be an easy estimation that a Costco would flourish here.

I definitely would want to see corroboration of those Walmart numbers before I believe them - I've certainly never seen or read anything suggesting those stats.  
 
Regardless, I promise that if Costco felt that they could make a killing here, we'd already have a Costco. We don't, and I trust Costco to do due diligence on determining where they should best expand to. I'd love to have a Costco! But I don't think it's likely to happen anytime soon. Best estimates from those in the know suggest a minimum population size of 300,000 within a 30 minute radius. Westman does more like 190,000 within 60 minutes. Let's give it a few more years.  
 
Edited by bryology101, 2026-04-06 15:37:41

Costo makes profit on memberships alone and nothing on items they sell in store... we have roughly 50,000 people in brandon and that would only give them a 3.5 million which wouldn't stand to profits for costo... even with other towns around considered it wouldn't be profitable enough for a year to substantially stay in brandon

With Wpg having over 850,000 population (realize split between a few Costco stores), do the math.

unfortunately all the people that say no high enough population are in correct. As brandon and surrounding areas, we can support it 100%.  
Why does medicine hat have one?  
Why is Lloydminister getting one?  
Both locations have similar populations.  
 
The reasoning is far beyond population. Perhaps it is because of politicians.

During the May 5th, 2025 city council meeting, director of economic development Gerald Cathcart gave these reasons for why Costco has not come to Brandon:  
 
Costco is looking for cities with larger populations. However, the mayor of Lloydminster has said Costco will be building in that city. It has about half the population of Brandon but is further from Edmonton and Saskatoon than Brandon is to Winnipeg.  
 
Lack of serviceable land in the city to build a store the size that Costco would require.  
 
That it would be detrimental to the existing business community in city.  
 
I have pasted a link to the Brandon Sun article but it’s likely behind the paywall.  
 
https://www.brandonsun.com/local/2025/05/08/no-costco-store-seen-on-horizon

If you really start to dig around the census data, you can see that Brandon and Medicine Hat are very different.  
 
For starters, even though Brandon is "almost" the same size as Medicine Hat, that almost is about 20% bigger. That's substantial.  
 
Also, the population density and distribution is quite different. Medicine Hat is almost twice as dense as Brandon, and has more families and proportionally more larger households.  
 
Medicine Hat is also 50% farther from Calgary than Brandon is from Winnipeg.  
 
Those factors alone seem to make the case pretty obviously.  
 
Also, I'm curious about the Wal-Mart stats. Can you direct us to where you read that? I have a hard time believing them as well, but maybe if we're talking about gross per square meter or something, it might jive.

Another example might be Courtney-Comox. Around 150k people in and within an hour, and that store’s definitely not scanning in 600 per 30 min. But maybe a special case with logistics of trucks already coming on the ferry for two stores?

thought there was enough to go through the expense of building one here, they would have. They are going to run all the numbers and not rely on a small number of the population that would use it.

I worked at head office when i lived in Ontario. I was absolutely blown away, as I thought a larger city would have better numbers, but larger cities have multiple WalMarts, and, in some regions, there's too many Wa:Marts too close together. I had heard a rumour that the chamber of commerce blocked it. Seems weird to me.

When i  
I asked how come the numbers were so high here, I was told that the store doesn't jjust serve the city, but a large portion of rural manitoba as well.

There is a saying of old boys club.  
 
The problem is that people will think Costco will take away from other businesses.. it is very hypocritical.  
Well then why do we have a corporate walmart and superstore?? If people think that way we should close both of those and have just sobeys and coop open to serve Brandon.  
 
Walmart and Superstore, sobeys, coop have probably 5-10x times (maybe even more) the SKUs that Costco carries. Go down any aisle in walmart and superstore and count how many vitamins they carry, how many toilet paper, condiments vs Costco.  
 
Yet people think its is going to bankrupt all of Brandon..  
 
FOR those that say they dont believe Walmart gross numbers. Go and ask to speak to the manager and have a decent conversation with them and they will let you know Brandon Walmart and one of the highest grossing Walmart in Western Canada. The same goes with Superstore!

I'm not too sure what the big deal is about having one here. You can order online as long as you have a membership, shipping is generally free, even large boxes like toilet paper, paper towel, etc. You obviously pay a touch more than if you were in store, but it's not ridiculous. The new one they built in headingley is super handy, big parking lot easy to get in and out of. I'm happy enough to have that one on the west side of Winnipeg.  
 
Edited by kevin89, 2026-04-07 18:58:50