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To the south of Fangshan, on the outside of a large milky white building shaped like a warehouse, the words “Costco Wholesale” in red and blue are very eye-catching. In the loading area, 4 trailers with Shanghai and Nanjing license plates are unloading. Walking into the store, the air conditioning is coming, the forklifts are busy, and some daily goods are already placed on the two-storey shelves. The 20 checkout counters are neatly arranged, and all the Michelin tires in the tire center are in place……
“Eighty percent of the goods are ready, and some imported goods are coming from the sea, we won’t let the citizens wait too long!” Talking about the opening next month, Xiong Shaoding, general manager of Nanjing Costco membership-based store, is very excited.
Since the signing of the “official announcement” in 2021, every step of the progress of Costco Nanjing Club has attracted the attention of the public. This is the world’s second largest retailer and the world’s first membership-based warehouse and wholesale club Costco’s seventh membership store in Chinese mainland.
The opportunity for such a retail giant is in front of us, and Nanjing has almost missed it. From the initial contact between the two parties to the follow-up negotiations, Costco has some concerns. Can the Fangshan area meet the “hard bar” of “radiating 1 million consumers within a 30-minute drive”?
In order to prove the potential and prospects of this sector, in addition to leading enterprises to travel by car, Cai Tui, from the Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Development Department of Jiangning High-tech Zone, led the team to go to multiple departments to “ask for help”: find the human resources and social security department to inquire about the size of the population paying social security; Find out to the public security department to check the total number of permanent residents; Collect data on per capita disposable income and total social income; Organize leading enterprises, international schools and high-quality residential areas within the driving distance, and divide them into three radius sections of 1 mile, 3 miles and 5 miles, and make them into PPT.
Confidence has increased layer by layer, and the company finally has a “reassurance”. In June 2021, Costco officially signed the contract. For Xiong Shaoding, who has worked in Costco for 25 years, the Nanjing Club has regained his familiar feeling.
12 refueling islands, two-lane widening design, double-sided oil guns, three fuel numbers, and 24 vehicles can be accommodated to enter the station for refueling at the same time, and you can leave directly without waiting for the car in front…… The Nanjing store is the first Costco store in Chinese mainland equipped with a membership-based gas station, and is called the most “authentic” Costco by Xiong Shaoding.
Why Nanjing?
“Costco built its own gas station, and land acquisition and approval are two major problems. From project site selection to operation application, Nanjing City and Jiangning District have given us all-round support. Xiong Shaoding said that Costco can give members more preferential oil prices, with the Nanjing store as a “zero breakthrough”, and the new domestic member stores will work in this direction in the future.
Cai Tui, from the Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Development Department of Jiangning High-tech Zone, admitted that because the Kaishike gas station is not open to all citizens, the project approval process once encountered resistance. “Our core purpose is to promote the implementation of the project, combined with the economic and social benefits it brings, which will do more good than disadvantage for Nanjing to improve its internationalization level and openness.” Under the communication and coordination of the two levels in the urban area, the relevant materials were reported to the province for examination and approval, and the company took the land as it wished, and the first membership-based gas station in China was completed as desired.
In recent years, Nanjing has seized the opportunity of a comprehensive pilot project to expand the opening up of the service industry, and supported the high-quality development of the service industry by attracting investment from key projects in the service industry. Especially since the beginning of this year, the Jiangsu headquarters of Hang Seng Electronics has been built, the East China headquarters of Xiaomi Group has been officially opened, and the headquarters of Polestar Technology China has been signed and landed ……This year, Nanjing was selected as a total of 21 provincial-level key service industry projects, a year-on-year increase of 16.7%, and the total planned investment increased by 7.1% year-on-year.
The Costco Nanjing Club Store, which has entered the countdown to opening, has brought surprises to the citizens of Nanjing and the surrounding areas. Australian beef, Atlantic salmon …… In Nanjing member stores, imported high-quality goods account for 30%, and the comprehensive nuts and roast chicken under its own brand “Corcoran” have long been “Internet celebrity products”. In addition, there are also member benefits such as the tire department and the glasses department. Xiong Shaoding revealed that the Nanjing club store will also combine local living habits, introduce preferential drinks, and cooperate in the development of new foods.
Last year, the per capita disposable income of Nanjing residents exceeded 72,000 yuan, and the city’s total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 820 billion yuan. After stable operation, Nanjing Kaishike is expected to achieve annual revenue of 1.4 billion yuan.
More and more “two-way running” is happening off the shelf. Xiong Shaoding told reporters that through the matchmaking of the park, the Nanjing member store has reached a cooperation agreement with Nanjing University of Media and Communication, Jinling University of Science and Technology and other colleges and universities, giving priority to providing internship positions for surrounding college students, and the hourly salary of 40 yuan is quite competitive in Nanjing.
In addition, seventy percent of the existing staff of the Nanjing club store are transferred from other stores. In addition to the company’s assignment, many people came to Nanjing and had plans to settle here, including Xiong Shaoding.
“I’m Taiwanese, and my generation has a special affection for Nanjing.” Xiong Shaoding told reporters that Nanjing is a very beautiful city with good development prospects, especially because he has an 86-year-old aunt who lives in Zhenjiang and used to visit him once a year.
The 60-year-old Xiong Shaoding can’t wait to imagine that after coming to work in Ningbo, it will be much easier for him and his aunt to get together, and the Kaishike, who he has been fighting for nearly 30 years, will also move forward with the city.
