Costco boosting Holbrook store's size for up-to-date layout

Costco Wholesale’s 30-year-old warehouse club in Holbrook is an old format, so the retailer plans to make changes, including boosting the size of the store, an attorney for the chain said.

On Jan. 26, the Islip town board approved a modification of covenants to allow Costco to increase the size of the Holbrook store, located at 125 Beacon Dr., by 18,357 square feet, or 14%, to 147,923 square feet.

“So, they’re just increasing the flooring area, so they can basically modernize the existing services that they have, in terms of like the pharmacy, administrative offices, storage and … shelf space,” said Philip A. Butler, a land use and municipal law attorney at Uniondale-based law firm Farrell Fritz, P.C. who is representing Costco on the Holbrook project.

Issaquah, Washington-based Costco Wholesale Corp. declined to comment.

The company’s standard store model has changed to a larger format, Butler said.

The chain’s warehouse clubs average 146,000 square feet, according to Costco’s website.

The expanded Holbrook store is not expected to increase membership, Butler said.

“It’s about selling more and providing more services to the same customers,” he said.

The Holbrook expansion project still requires site plan approval and building permits from the town of Islip, as well as approval from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, according to town spokeswoman Caroline Smith.

Costco has 848 stores in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, including eight on Long Island.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.