Costco ‘Shelves’ Pendleton Store Idea, Residents Frustrated

According to a dozens of comments on a Pendleton-based Facebook page, a wide range of reasons are being discussed about why retail giant Costco decided against building a store in Pendleton.

According to news reports on the website mycolumbiabasin.com, Costco has reconsidered it's idea to build there.

Pendleton Community Development Director Tim Simons said their decision was not based upon anything Pendleton did, or didn't, do. He said Costco was going to re-evaluate doing something in Kennewick with their existing store, or something else in the Tri-Cities.

Months of work and negotiations appear, for now, to have gone down the drain. But Costco didn't completely rule out the possibility of a store there in the future. Just not now.

Frustration appeared on the Facebook page "You Know You're From Pendleton ..." with citizens voicing a variety of theories as to why it didn't happen, as well as opinions about the state of economic growth in the city.

One man posted this statement: (we have not corrected misspellings from the site).

"I have said this in the passed, Pendleton is just like Baker City in 70s, they thought the sawmill would keep them a live, but then the slowing down of logging, poeple started moving out of Baker City. Business went to LA Grand instead, look at te business that have left Pendleton to go to Hermiston!"

Like · 1 · March 11 at 12:52pm

Another said this:

That's why we need to do something but what I'm not sure. Oh WE NEED TO STOP LIVING IN THE PAST AND THINK OF IMPROVING OUR TOWN. WE NEED TO GROW AND NOT BE CRAMPED. I guess need people who want change and are willing to go the extra mile to help this community. Seems like we are dying in this town

Like · 1 · March 11 at 1:16pm

Another offered this less than flattering assessment of the difference between the city and another just over the border in WA:

We went to Walla Walla and we're able to eat our dinner outside on the sidewalk at a fenced seating area on main street on a Summer night. It was grrat. I was on main in Pendleton last night and a guy high on meth started taking his clothes off in the rain.

Several other posters made some points about how the mechanization of the wheat farming in the area has affected the city. They also said the city has not been as aggressive as Walla Walla or Tri-Cities in pursuing more economic growth.

Either way, many citizens are frustrated about the way the Costco deal didn't work out.

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