In what seems like an actual lifetime ago, there was a bunch of talk about Golden Corral coming to Champaign (newsflash: it didn’t happen). What is 2017, anyway? I don’t even remember anything before March of this year.
Seth wrote about the fact that he’d never been to a Golden Corral before, and it was quite the coversation starter on our Facebook page when we published it. The commentary was all over the place. People thought we were talking down on GC, when in all reality, it was a genuine question since so many people were anticipating it coming to C-U.
OK, enough aboout GC. Onto the real discussion: Costco.
You have likely seen all of the booths and promotional teams all over C-U encouraging community members to sign up for memberships. They are practically everywhere you look. I’ve seen at least a handful, including by Harvest Market and Kraft recently. Kudos to those folks who are slugging it out doing that work.
Costco opening on October 22nd in Champaign has caused quite the commotion (we see you, Chambanamoms) — and I must admit: I’ve never even been to one before.
It’s great to see people are excited, but I must say: is it that awesome? It sure seems like people like it, and from what I can gather, they treat their employees well, and it has a lot of stuff. But isn’t this just another big box corporate chain store that is practically Sam’s Club on steroids? Perhaps this calls for a trip once it does open.
Apparently, this location will be nearly 150,000 square feet and feature over 3,500 unique products, and nearly 200 jobs will be created because of it. So, that’s a good thing in a variety of ways.
Let’s face it though: Marketplace Mall is probably stoked to have this thing because lord knows malls aren’t coming back and COVID-19 is the nail in the coffin. RIP malls.
Top image by TJ Blakeman.
