Honam's First Costco to Open in Iksan in November 2027

Store Registration Approved; Shared-Growth Plan for Local Community Finalized

The first Costco store in the Honam region is expected to open in Iksan in November 2027. Iksan City has finalized a plan to promote shared growth that includes hiring local residents, expanding sales channels for agricultural products, and protecting neighborhood businesses. The city will work to ensure that the benefits of the large-scale retail facility extend throughout the local economy.

According to Iksan City on October 14, it gave final approval on October 12 to Costco Korea's application to register the opening of a large-scale store. The city also finalized a plan for cooperation with the local community.

Over the past four months, Iksan City has discussed measures to promote shared growth, aiming to reduce the impact of a large retailer's entry on neighborhood businesses and ensure that the store's opening benefits the local community. The city held meetings with heads of small-business groups to hear their views, and convened the Distribution Business Cooperation and Development Council, a statutory deliberative body, three times. After requesting revisions on four occasions, it developed specific implementation measures for each area, and the council approved the final plan as originally proposed.

Costco agreed to expand its hiring of Iksan residents as full-time employees and hold recruitment events in partnership with local job-support organizations. It will support local farmers and food and product manufacturers in expanding their sales channels by providing promotional events in the store and regular opportunities for purchasing consultations.

Measures to protect neighborhood businesses include ▲ restricting sales of certain sensitive product categories ▲ refraining from large-scale advertising and promotions ▲ operating spaces in the store to promote traditional markets and neighborhood businesses ▲ supporting training to strengthen small businesses' capabilities.

An Iksan City official said, "This is the result of discussions to protect neighborhood businesses and ensure that tangible benefits return to the community as we worked to attract a large retailer." The official added, "We will carefully monitor the implementation of the shared-growth plan."

Meanwhile, Costco's Iksan store, which will be located in the Wanggung-myeon area, is aiming to begin construction by the end of 2026 and is scheduled to open in November 2027. The store is expected to make shopping more convenient for local consumers and attract shoppers from nearby cities.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.