photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Construction on the new Costco store near Rock Chalk Park in northwest Lawrence is pictured on Aug. 25. In the foreground is the canopy for the large fuel station that will be part of the retail project.

There’s certainly a rumor going around town that Costco’s new Lawrence store will open Oct. 29. However, I’ve heard it enough that I feel like I should pass along that Costco has not officially made that announcement.

The company maintains a “coming soon” list on its website to provide updates on store opening dates, and it also sends out press releases a few weeks prior to a store opening. The company has done neither of those things yet.

The Oct. 29 rumor seems to be built upon a post on Reddit, where a Costco employee of an area store said they are transferring to the Lawrence location, and has been told Oct. 29 is the opening date. That may indeed be accurate, but also is different than official opening date being publicly announced by the company.

However, an Oct. 29 date would be consistent with what Costco has publicly said about the opening. The company has said the store will be open well in advance of the Thanksgiving shopping season. If you have driven by the under-construction Costco location in northwest Lawrence, you also could believe a late October opening is feasible.

The giant retailer is famous for quickly building its stores. The company’s general construction contractor has publicly boasted that a Costco construction project generally takes 110 days “from the time construction begins to the moment doors open to their members.” As we reported, Costco was issued a city building permit on May 8, so a late October opening would be very feasible based on that 110 day timeline. If you are getting really technical, the 110 day mark would have been in late August.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Construction on Lawrence’s new Costco store — located northwest of the intersection of Sixth Street and George Williams Way — is pictured on Aug. 25, 2026.

While I don’t think it is likely that the store is going to open any day now, there are abundant signs the store is well along in its hiring process to staff the store. The company is advertising on its corporate website for a large variety of positions at the Lawrence store. Those position listings don’t include an opening date for the Lawrence store.

What the listings do provide, though, is a link to a chart that shows wage ranges for Costco employees. That’s interesting because in the private sector you don’t often get to see that type of wage data. Plus, Costco will be a major employer in the retail sector, thus the wages they pay may drive the market to some degree.

Costco generally has a national reputation of paying higher than average wages for the retail sector. The chart indicates that will be the case in Lawrence. Most positions had a range from $21 to $32.90 per hour, depending on experience and qualifications. That was the wage range for bakers, cashiers, and tire installers, for example. A few other positions had slightly lower ranges. Stockers, maintenance assistants, gas station attendants, and pharmacy sales assistants, for example, have wage ranges listed $20 to $32.90 per hour.

As you would expect, a few positions are much higher. Registered pharmacists have wage ranges of approximately $70 to $80 per hour in most locations, while pharmacy managers have annual salaries listed from around $190,000 to about $200,000.

I haven’t seen Costco make any statements about how many people the Lawrence store is expected to employ. Estimates for a typical Costco store vary quite a bit when looking at different sources online. But based on those varying estimates, approximately 200 employees — a mix of full and part-time position — seems feasible for the Lawrence store.

If so, that would make the Costco project not only a significant addition to the retail market, but also to Lawrence’s labor market.

As for when we might officially learn an opening date for the Costco store, what I can tell you is such dates can be fluid. City officials in nearby Lee’s Summitt, Mo. had been touting Aug. 28 as an opening date for the new Costco in that city. However, about four days before that opening date, Costco officials said Oct. 2 was a more likely opening date, according to multiple reports from Kansas City media.

In other words, you are likely going to need the one thing Costco doesn’t sell — patience.