Opinion on Costco and 301
 

Ok, my opinion looks like customers will be coming from all directions in central Florida to Costco’s off CR 446 and 301? Probably as far north as Gainesville or beyond?

301 already nightmare with bottle neck from CR42 to Summerfield. CR 42, CR 466, CR 484, and 30l all directions will be impacted. 466 and 301 intersections IMO can’t hardly handle traffic now due to turning lanes too short and not 2 lanes to turn north, south, and east on 301. This backs up traffic pass stop light at railroad tracks by Walmart. Not to mention when trains come? Also good luck getting through intersections in front Costco on side streets?

Also IMO the bottle neck after summerfield south should have been 4 lanes 10 years ago. Looks like they are working on bottleneck ( think they will be done before Costco’s opens? :)

It will be interesting for sure how many Costco members will lose their lives
coming and going to shop before someone from the highway planning
commission stands up and admits this was a big mistake to permit Costco here.

God help us all.

I'm gonna stick with Sam's club a while longer. Y'all have fun.

Apparently not many drive to Clearmont Costco. 80mph down TP, then 8 lanes of stop go on Hwy 50. Then the bonus of either returning to TV on 27 with stop lights, or TP and the 30-60 minute backup because of construction. As executive member I will be buy fuel, then shopping an hour before open to the regular members.

My wife shops at the Clermont Costco frequently. If the new Costco is crowded she will probably just keep going to Clermont. It is fairly convenient from the southern sections, particularly if you are headed to Orlando anyway for another reason, which we frequently are.

Excellent !!!!!! I hope everyone shops at Costco. Drive up the stock price even further. Costco stock is a gold mine.

A bit dramatic, don’t you think?

I do wonder what they were thinking. It seems like it would have made more sense to put it on 44 somewhere, which would catch both the turnpike and I-75 traffic. A highway makes much more sense than in TV. 466 will be a nightmare with all the out of town traffic it will bring.

Oh I don’t think there was any thinking put in place for the location of Costco. It will be chaotic!!

Apparently Costco and the developer have been in negotiations for locations in near and around The Villages for more than 3-7 years.

We are extremely happy for Costco to be built at this location. Big reason Not in our back door, but within 10 minutes. So blissfully we are still in the lack of retail traffic for hopefully many years to come. Will there be more traffic, yes. Will it draw customers away from Walmart, HL, Homegoods, probably not. The restaurants should see an uptick in customers. The only downside I see, is Fresh market. Costco meat prices may hurt them.
Costco would never build at a site that wouldn’t draw customers from 6am fuel station opening to shoppers at 9-10am. (Depending on site hours and membership status). Pretty sure traffic flow in-depth studies were done for years to maximize, customer base from outside the bubble.
Bonus Costco won’t have offer $25 memberships for new customers. So for a month or so most customers could be long standing Costco patrons, who will drive up to an hour to shop.
We have been Costco Business Members over 20 years, along with Sam’s. We didn’t renew Sam’s this year, and had a brief 3 month free with BJ’s.

Costco home delivery, along with Amazon, Kroger, Walmart+, takes care of 90% of our retail needs. We only fuel up very 30-45 days so one stop shop very early or just before closing. We will still shop Clearmont on our return from the parks, or want better dining options.

^ This 100%.

Ya think?!!! It’s funny when businesses open how many people think they’re road engineers and county commissioners.

topspinmo....where is 446? did you mean 466? not near 301 either

I can’t wait.

Amen

I’ve been a Sam’s Club member for around thirty years. I don’t see much reason to switch. The sort of things Costco sells that Sam’s Club doesn’t sell are generally things I don’t buy anyway.

Yes, there will be more traffic on 301 and 466, but considering that most of the traffic on 466 keeps going rather than stopping to shop at the many stores, we should not assume that this is going to change. Even if twenty cars per minute on 466 turn to go to Costco, which. Is not likely to happen very often, traffic won’t be affected very much; we can handle it. In general, it will not be “a nightmare.”

What WILL be “a nightmare” is trying to drive there, park there, or shop there in the first week it is open, or perhaps even the first month. Thousands around here will want to come check it out. Why not just wait and let the excitement and the parking and traffic jams die down? Parking close to the building will be the worst, so why not plan to park on the outskirts and just do a little extra walking. (You’ll be walking inside the store anyway, right?) We all know that it will usually be packed on Saturday and Sunday, so why not just stay away on weekends and leave it to the people who work for a living? It will be least crowded Monday through Friday before 11, so why not limit your visits to weekday mornings? I hate crowds, so that’s what I try to do at Sam’s Club.

I think people overestimate the volume of people and traffic that will be going to Costco, thinking it will be some kind of Armageddon. I go to the one in Claremont, usually on a Saturday morning, and it's not bad at all. Plenty of parking and although 50 has a lot of traffic, it's not solely because of Costco. That's just a really busy road in general. If people do end up coming down from Gainesville it's only gonna be a hearty few that will drive over an hour and pay tolls to get here, especially with Sam's Club and BJ's around. I am a die hard Costco shopper and I was hesitating whether renewing my membership when I moved here, just because it takes 50 minutes to get down there and I have to pay tolls.

The other thing is people typically don't go to Costco multiple times a week like they might with Publix or Walmart because you're usually buying bulk product. For me, I go about once every two weeks, even when I only lived 20 minutes away from it up in Minnesota. I'm sure they'll be a noticeable increase in traffic but I think it will be fine.

U.S. 301 is a federal highway. Federal DOT wants ALL federal highways 4 lane minimum and has plans for that .

One thing you failed to mention. Super Walmart going in on 44 in southern end, so all that traffic that currently has to go from the south to Walmart on 466 will be gone. Just sayin….

Costco in The Villages will be golf cart accessible, at least it is now as I've driven by in my cart a few times. That will ease the traffic concerns a bit and should be a nice benefit for locals.

There are plans for another exit on the Turnpike/75 between Summerfield and Hwy 44.

We’ll be going by golf cart.

Folks shopping at Costco, Sam’s, etc. , are shopping in bulk .

Where are you going to place the stuff you buy there on a golf cart ??

IMHO, folks doing any serious shopping at Costco will be leaving their golf carts home ….

Yes, type0 with my shaky fingers.

OMG !! 😱

The sky is falling, the sky is falling !!! 😳😂😂😂

Probably Most of us will be long gone by time that happens. :ho:

Glad you feel better now.

Failed to mention plenty Walmarts all around villages.

No one is arguing that, that's the problem. It's how many customers if will be bringing in to local roads.

Sounds like Costco is going to be giving stuff away… every day will be like a Black Friday event!

Only to members only. :shrug:

Costco and Aldi's in LSL soon to be a short cart drive away for me. A shopping dream come true.

Gainesville to The Villages Costco is by I 75 there aren’t any TP tolls. You would be surprised how many people in the villages drive all the way to Gainesville Orlando to go to Trader Joe’s, so the reverse isn’t a surprise.

Out of the 13 Costco‘s I shop have never been able to get close to the building. I don’t even try. I’m usually in the back 40 the farthest away from the building no matter what time a day. Then I find the same amount of shoppers Monday through Friday as Saturday and Sunday. It’s just a different clientele more families on Saturday and Sunday more old people Monday through Friday either way, it’s still busy.

Until the “New Smell” wears off Walmart on 44 will be packed. I am hoping like other states this one will be open 5a-midnight. Wishing for 24 hour open I don’t think is going to to happen ever again.

I also live close to the new Costco but I will never take my golf cart that way again. Too many people will be driving cars that are not use to driving with golf carts.

As of this morning the official Costco “New Locations” does list the Villages, yet. Once the location hits their website the opening month will be listed. I am guessing end of August or September

Love COSTCO. Cannot wait for it to open.

Hey people ...... the area where Costco is located is zoned BUSINESS !!!
That means TRAFFIC. No matter what kind of business would be located in that empty lot, it would draw traffic. That's why there are lots of traffic lights on 466. Besides, we live in a congested area, full of homes, stores and restaurants. It's convenient to shop and eat in one area that gets you most of what you need.
Maybe they should have put a Fun Stop there instead of Costco. That would have been much worse.
Most of you are making a tempest in a teapot.

This is why I love the Villages. People with no knowledge or experience in doing something are all better planners than those who do it for a living.

Of course the city and CostCo did traffic studies, etc. This is not the first CostCo ever built, after all.

Cities can, and do, make the company build out road improvements and such if needed.

But please, never stop posting about how much more you know about something than the experts, it is fun to read over morning coffee
.

:)