Costco to open new stand-alone gas station

Costco is set to open a new standalone gas station by spring.

The city of Mission Viejo, Calif. has approved plans to tear down a former Bed, Bath and Beyond store to make room for the fuel pumps that will only be available to Costco members.

The station will feature 40 pumps only and will not have a convenience store shopping space. It will be located at the Mission Viejo Freeway Center at 25732 El Paseo, just off Interstate 5.

California gas prices are currently $3.03 at their lowest with an average of $4.61 per gallon, according to GasBuddy. Costco currently sells gas for $4.35 a gallon for regular unleaded at its nearby Laguna Nigel warehouse, according to its app. The Laguna Nigel location is just 2.5 miles away from the planned standalone location in Mission Viejo.

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Costco did not immediately respond to a FOX Business request for comment, but reports say the gas station is a first of its kind for the wholesaler.

Earlier this year, Costco extended gas station hours. CEO Ron Vachris said during Costco’s third-quarter earnings call that the company saw “two of our all-time highest gallon weeks” in the U.S. in April.

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Cars line up at a Costco gas station in Bayonne, New Jersey, US, on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023. Costco Wholesale Corp. is scheduled to release earnings figures on December 14. Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
COST	COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP.	990.21	-12.50	-1.25%

That, according to the Costco exec, was due to a “combination of expanded gas station hours, new gas station openings and lower prices at the pump.”

In a mid-February Facebook post, Costco listed the new gas station hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday and 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, though it said they could vary for California and Hawaii.

Customers line up at a Costco gas station in Concord, California, U.S., on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. President Joe Biden called on Congress to suspend the federal gasoline tax, a largely symbolic move by an embattled president running out of options to ease pump prices weighing on his party's political prospects. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Costco reporting those two “all-time highest gallon weeks” came after CFO Gary Millerchip previously told analysts and investors in early March that the warehouse retailer had been “pleased so far with the member reaction” to the longer hours and “seeing an improvement in overall usage of the gas stations.”

FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.

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