Sarasota Costco now open

Costco officially opened the doors to its new warehouse at Sarasota Square Mall at 8 a.m. this morning.

The 146,000-square-foot warehouse is located at 8201 S. Tamiami Trail, Unit 501, at the intersection of Tamiami Trail and Beneva Road.

Previously, Sarasota residents had to drive approximately 50 miles north to Brandon, 55 miles north to Clearwater,

75 miles south to Fort Myers, 95 miles south to Estero or 120 miles south to Naples to shop at a Costco location.

The new Costco location will feature a variety of convenient specialty departments, including a gas station, hearing aid center, food court and bakery, meat, produce, deli, optical, one-hourphoto, pharmacy, tire center and liquor departments.

The new store is the 22nd Costco warehouse in Florida for the Issaquah, Wash.-based company.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].