Costco New Zealand is on track to open in early 2022 near Auckland’s Westgate Shopping Centre and is recruiting for senior roles.

The Auckland megastore will include an in-house optometry practice offering emergency appointments and a full range of optometry services for adults and children, including visual field testing, binocular vision and dry-eye assessments, glaucoma checks and screening for other eye diseases, said Costco spokeswoman Casey Lang in 2019 when the launch was first announced. “All our warehouses have an optical centre that’s in-house rather than franchised and we have an optical lab in Sydney that most prescriptions go through.”

Costco, a membership-based retailer, has more than 100 million members across its 803 stores worldwide, including 12 stores in Australia, which sell everything from fresh food to furniture and home electronics. In Australia, Costco prices are 25-30% cheaper compared to other retailers and similar discount pricing is expected for New Zealand, reported FMCG Business. Other stores in

Wellington and the South Island are also being considered, said Costco NZ managing director Patrick Noone​.