Costco Plans Second Honolulu Location Near Aloha Stadium Redevelopment Site

Costco Wholesale has filed permits for a 160,000-square-foot warehouse store on a 15-acre parcel adjacent to the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District in Halawa, according to documents obtained by Honolulu Wire.

The new location would be Costco’s second on Oahu and its fourth in the state, supplementing the perpetually crowded Iwilei warehouse that has served as the island’s only Costco since 1995. The Halawa site, currently a vacant former industrial lot owned by the Hawaii Stadium Authority, was rezoned for commercial use as part of the broader stadium district master plan approved last year.

“Anyone who’s tried to shop at Iwilei on a Saturday knows we needed this a decade ago,” said retail analyst Brenda Choy of Pacific Business Consulting. “That store does more revenue per square foot than almost any Costco in the country.”

Costco’s filing indicates the new store would include a gas station with 32 pumps, an expanded food court, and an optical center — features that space constraints prevent at the Iwilei location. The company estimates creating 350 full-time jobs with a starting wage of $19.50 per hour plus benefits.

The project is expected to draw some traffic away from Iwilei while also capturing spending from the estimated 25,000 new residents projected for the stadium district and surrounding communities over the next decade. Costco did not respond to requests for comment on timeline, but permit filings suggest a target opening of late 2027.

The New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, a $4 billion mixed-use development replacing the demolished Aloha Stadium, is currently in its first phase of construction with initial residential and commercial spaces expected to open in 2028.