This New Costco Furniture Store Redefines the Warehouse Shopping Experience

You already know that Costco is a one-stop shopping destination for everything, from egg bites to refrigerators. The website offers an impressive selection of furniture and appliances, but now shoppers in Anchorage, Alaska, can check make a Costco run to physically check out the coffee table or deep freezer they want: As reported by Anchorage Daily News, the retailer recently announced its plans to open a free-standing appliance and furniture warehouse in a 58,000-square-foot, previously-shuttered Toys R Us location.

The first-of-its-kind Costco store will give Alaskans a chance to actually see what they're looking at buying online. They can then order their chosen furniture to ship to their homes or businesses if they decide they want it in their space.

"You can touch and feel it and kick the tires, so it's a perfect opportunity to see what you can purchase," said Christine Lasley, a Costco director of real estate development at the company's headquarters, in a statement.

This new warehouse, which has no completion date yet, joins a Costco Business Center and four standard Costco warehouses in Alaska—two in Anchorage and one in Juneau and Fairbanks.

Costco already sells a limited selection of furniture and appliances in their stores, but the majority of items are only available to shop online. This new concept brings customers a much wider assortment of choice and ability to try out, feel, and test for comfort and size in person. Think about IKEA's showroom concept, where you get to walk around and envision what pieces would look like in your space before adding them to your cart.

Though many furniture retailers have closed their doors or filed for bankruptcy in the past few years, Costco sees an opportunity to expand its business with freestanding furniture stores. It plans to add more of these warehouses in the future. "We're meeting the demands of the customers," Lasley said.

Costco will also continue to open traditional warehouses this year with 33 new storefronts (two of which are relocations), adding to its existing 850 global locations. That’s 10 more than were opened in 2023, according to CFO Richard Galanti.

It’s not clear whether the furniture warehouses will include a fan-favorite snack bar where $1.50 hot dog combos are a ritual for shoppers (but Costco wants to keep its customers satisfied), that wouldn't be a bad idea.