photo by: Shawn Valverde/Journal-World

The sign of the new Costco in Lawrence Kansas on opening day, Thursday, October 29, 2026.

For decades, big box stores have been a big argument in Lawrence.

In the mid-1990s, it was Super Target. There was a lot of community angst that Super Target was going to be a super threat to downtown Lawrence.

A couple of years later, it was Borders bookstore. There was a lot of angst that Borders would run every bookstore in downtown Lawrence out of business.

In the 2000s, it was Walmart. There was lot of angst the retailer would make a mess of the Sixth and Wakarusa area.

That’s a brief history of retail battles in Lawrence, and I bring it up because of what has happened over the last couple of weeks. Or, more precisely, what hasn’t happened. Costco recently opened in northwest Lawrence and there was no big fight.

In fact, I would say it was one of the most eagerly anticipated developments I’ve covered in my approximately 35 years in Douglas County. We should pause and ask ourselves why. Anytime the subject is Costco, I’m tempted to say the answer is cake (I really like its cake, if you haven’t picked up on that) but I suspect the answer is more complex.

Costco’s development could have easily gone like many other developments in Lawrence. I believe there’s a segment of the community that generally doesn’t like big corporations. Costco is pretty big. I believe there is a segment of the community that believes development on the edge of town promotes sprawl. Costco is definitely on the edge of town. I believe there is a segment of the community that dislikes cars. Costco is definitely going to attract lots of cars.

But for some reason, Lawrence has largely put aside all of those concerns in favor of rotisserie chicken and toilet paper by the pallet. Lawrence leaders should find the reason behind the acceptance — actually the enthusiasm — for Costco and bottle it.

Retail can be big business for Lawrence, and really needs to be. Sales tax collections comprise about half of the City of Lawrence’s general revenue stream. There is no single revenue stream larger than sales tax collections. To state the obvious, retail stores generate sales tax revenues.

Less obvious is that increased sales tax collections are a sound way to reduce property taxes. As long as government doesn’t adopt a mindset that every new dollar of revenue has to be spent, new sales tax dollars — assuming you can grow them at a rate greater than inflation — can be used to eliminate existing property tax dollars. That’s possible because I think big box retail development has done a pretty good job of paying for its growth in Lawrence.

Not everyone is going to agree with that. You don’t have to look hard to find arguments that big box retail development doesn’t do a good job of paying its own way. I won’t dismiss those views entirely. There may be factors I’m not understanding. But I’m not seeing a financial problem with big box stores when I look at basic Lawrence numbers.

One argument against big box retail is that it largely just shifts money around in a community. I don’t think the Lawrence numbers show that. From 2013 to 2024, Lawrence sales tax collections grew 5.5% greater than inflation. New spending was occurring. Yes, Lawrence’s population also grew during that time period by about 7%. The fact that population grew faster than tax collections might be because we didn’t have enough new retail to fully capture the dollars of our new residents. They were driving out of town.

There are other possible explanations too, such as local incomes failing to keep pace with inflation or population becoming more heavily weighted by students with less spending money. That’s why I decided to look at some more specific numbers tied to local stores.

I looked up what the south Iowa Walmart store pays in property taxes: $523,700 in 2025. Start with this: That single Walmart store is paying about $220,000 in property taxes for public education. Is that store really creating any new costs for the Lawrence school district?

Those numbers don’t include sales taxes. How much the store generates in sales tax collections isn’t publicly released, but Walmart reports its average sales per square foot at about $600 per year. That lone Walmart likely is generating about $14 million a year in sales tax collections.

A chunk of that goes to state government, but a good amount stays with local governments. When you add the sales taxes that remain here with the local property taxes paid, the city of Lawrence and Douglas County are likely getting about $700,000 a year from that single store.

Yes, the store creates some government expenses. Police and fire respond to calls, shoppers create wear and tear on streets, the store generates some cases in district court, and so on. But, really, do you think that adds up to more than $700,000 in direct costs for local government? I’m skeptical that it does at Walmart or any of the other big retailers in town.

The great news about Costco is the numbers will be even larger. Costco stores average per-square foot sales about three times greater than Walmart. Simply put, Costco is the largest retail development in Lawrence’s recent history, and should be treated as a huge economic development project. It will pump new money into our economy.

There are a couple of things Lawrence should be doing in response. One is a thank you. A pair of local development families — the Schwadas and the Fritzels — created the development that houses Costco. The land near Rock Chalk Park largely sat empty for a dozen years. The developers paid the property taxes on the land — the project never received a tax abatement — and spent millions on roads, sidewalks and infrastructure without enough tenants to pay those costs. That’s patience. That’s risk. Lawrence is fortunate to have investors willing to deal in both.

Next, Lawrence leaders should spend more time thinking about what they want Lawrence’s retail future to look like. I acknowledge that retail development as an economic driver in Lawrence hasn’t always been a slam dunk. Being between Topeka and Kansas City creates a challenge for how many out-of-town shoppers Lawrence will attract. Costco will move the needle on that problem. In northeast Kansas, it is the westernmost store for the chain. People will drive far from the north and west to shop at our Costco.

Here’s an interesting question to ponder: Can the pull of Costco allow Lawrence to overtake Topeka as a retail hub? What new retail development would be required? I think overtaking Topeka may be difficult, but becoming close to its equal may be feasible. We should study the possibility and set some goals. The payoff — even in a world where e-commerce is surging — could be huge.

Lastly, there’s one more thing we should do: Celebrate. Costco didn’t have to choose Lawrence for its store. As history has shown, the deal didn’t have to go smoothly. But it did. The developers did their part, city government did its part, and Lawrence residents with their enthusiasm are doing their part.

That is worth a celebration. I have a suggestion on where to buy the cake.