The Problem With The New Costco Site Is Only Everything

ED176ACF-3FFB-4D1D-84C5-E5E0499C48E5 The Problem With The New Costco Site Is Only Everything
Likely Future Site of Fresno’s Newest Costco

Costco wants to move its West Shaw location to a currently vacant field at Herndon & Riverside. And they want to manipulate Herndon to do it. It seems the West Shaw location is too small for them.

Oh and in case you are still a little foggy on where Riverside Drive and Herndon is at:

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It will have great views of the Olive Garden

If it’s THAT big of a problem for them on West Shaw. If it needs so much space. If we need to move and change things. Then, well, maybe it shouldn’t exist at all?

Or at least take the vacant old Super Walmart space just to the East of the current Costco Shaw location, if you ACTUALLY simply need more space.

I respect that Costco (has the reputation amongst the industry at least) of treating their employees better than most of the grocery and retail industry does. Many consider Costco a more ethical company than the Wal-Marts & Targets.

If that’s true, cool. But this is where my like of Costco ends.

Things That Suck About Costco [Old Man Rant Alert!]

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  • It’s too damn big. All of it. The store and items.
  • They sell a whole buncha of junk. Junk that I shouldn’t nobody should buy.
  • The fucking parking. Both the NE Fresno location and West Shaw suuuuuck to get in & out of – they should be on this list. And yes, part of the reason they want to leave West Shaw is the bad parking but you know damn well the new place will end up being a shitty lot too.
  • They charge you annually for the privilege of shopping there (sucker).
  • Too many different things happening; poultry, books, TVs, optometrist, a giant bag of iceberg lettuce, all under one roof. It’s unsettling.
  • Lines. Long lines to wait in to give them your money.
  • Buying in bulk isn’t always the best value.

And another thing, shouldn’t we be focusing on vacant locations in Fresno becoming residential or a park anyway? There are very few largish open spaces left in the city and the immediate thought is “Hey, let’s get a Costco in there!”

Oh and hey, like, aren’t big box stores on their way out? Amazon killing all the retail and stuff? And if not, won’t Costco come along one day and find that the new Herndon spot is also too small for them?

Let’s not forget what that area, including the small community of Herndon, has had to endure

The traffic is already a mess. I know, I go through there at least twice a day on my commute. Add a Costco with its gas station and then probably a little strip mall with a check cashing place next to a liquor store and a Subway, and it will be a disaster.

That doesn’t even include the many-times-a-day a Union Pacific freight train comes through. And when it does it backs up traffic for three light cycles and that’s with NOTHING currently in the lot that Costco wants to use.

Plus, it would be a waste for a city run golf course, Riverside, to have their third hole looking at the back of a Costco warehouse (with dumpsters and idling 18-wheelers), instead of housing or a green space.

I imagine the city will push it through because taxes or whatever. Not sure how to stop it. Just let the record show I said the new Costco on Herndon will be trash.

Fresno: California’s Base Camp

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Yosemite Valley Pic by @markian.b on Instagram

People can shit on this and I get it, you shouldn’t brag about things not technically in your city, but hey man: it’s pretty fucking cool we can get to everything rad in California by lunch time.

  • Tahoe
  • Yosemite
  • San Diego
  • Your Mom’s
  • Monterey
  • Las Vegas (ok it’s Nevada, but still)
  • San Francisco
  • Disneyland
  • Shasta (a late lunch)
  • Russian River Brewery

ALL BY LUNCH!!

1C97256F-FC5E-412E-A25C-7D9BBC5FCA6C Fresno: California’s Base Camp
Zachary’s Deep Dish Pic by @restaurantgroupie on Instagram

I can go have a pizza at Zachary’s in Berkeley right now, FUCKING WATCH ME.

Then go have some beers at Faction and look at this view:

F36DCC5B-CCED-45E2-AF86-A37E55CF54D4 Fresno: California’s Base Camp

Then have some sucker drive my buzzed-ass back home for tacos in downtown Fresno, LIKE. A. KING!

AE2C9DD4-D608-4F84-9943-E9C56A44CB75 Fresno: California’s Base Camp

Can Austin say that? Fucking Kansas City? Chicago? Atlanta? Boston? Pittsburgh? Either of the Portlands?

NO! They cant say these things! Cities don’t talk.

But if they could? Well, they would say “I wish I was where Fresno is.”

Dwight’s Beet Empire Expanding Into Fresno?

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I agree. That’s close enough to be a Fresno mention.

Rainn, aka “Dwight” from The Office, spotted one of Fresno’s OK Produce trucks – looks like the I-5 on the Grapevine.

I feel like OK Produce has been waiting for this moment since they came up with “Rockin’ The Beets!” for their trucks.

No word yet if Dwight will be changing the OK Produce name to Schrute Farms.

Sounds Of Fresno: Shred & Jets

Some F-15s and a tree shredder: just another Fresno day.

I have a love/mild annoyance with the Fresno F-15 Jets.

I’m pretty much right under their path for taking off. I honestly like watching them (shout out to the 144th Fighter Wing) but when you get three to four of them all taking off within a minute of each other it’s like…

“Okay kids, that’s enough fun, it’s gettin’ kinda loud, shut it down for the night.”

Something I’ve noticed, when there are just two and they take off real quick and jam out and don’t come back around to do another takeoff? They doing some real shit there.

I assume it’s to see if they can catch up to some UFO, but maybe it’s a Russian MiG that they need to take a Poliroid picture of:

Fresno Needs A Damn Beer Hall!

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German Beer Hall – by thorquabbin on Flicker

We do. We need one – you know, when the COVID is gone (someday I hope to delete that statement from this post).

Just a straight up fucking BEER HALL!

Take one large hall. Then add…

  • A bunch of long-ass tables.
  • A solid list of beers on tap.
  • Pitchers (You remember pitchers, right!?)
  • One simple food – likey tacos. All the meat variants and veggie variants – BUT THATS IT! Don’t fuck with a bunch a different things!
  • Lots of water around.
  • A safe, open, welcoming, friendly environment.
  • A large bathroom for all peoples.
  • A large wait staff that comes to your table very regularly so you never have to get up and try to wedge yourself into a busy bar to hopefully get a bartender’s attention.

It’s actually really simple. Not that fucking hard to do and nobody is doing it exactly like that. IT WOULD RAKE!!

And it wouldn’t matter where you put it. How about one of you assholes with money just fucking do it already!?!!

Westwood’s Is Open For The Pro-Pandemic Continuation Community

I heard over the weekend that Westwood’s Spice & Things [close enough] was seating people inside and it was PACKED! Like, security directing traffic in the parking lot, packed.

Then this happened:

We can’t get our dumb ass out of the purple. Why can’t Clovis start their own County and leave us alone!? (I also have heard that many Clovis restaurants don’t care about the Pandemic either)

So I gut-reaction-tweeted and a certain NE Fresno dude quoted it:

Man, I don’t know *exhales* *runs fingers through hair* *exhales again* … I don’t know why I engaged with Fresno’s child. I have spent years walking away and not saying anything. Because why, really? The dude doesn’t get it and loves attention, so why bother with him? But I did:

Maybe it was the half of a 7.5% IPA I was drinking or maybe it was him using my tweet for his own means, but I finally acknowledged the dude. Of course, I had to use a Star Wars reference as a safe space.

Look, man. You do your thing. If you just GOTTA eat INSIDE that restaurant and gather with a bunch of other people, during a Pandemic, all while much of the staff hasn’t been able to get vaccinated yet and are risking their lives and their family’s lives so you can own the Libs or whatever, I can’t stop ya.

I’ll continue getting take-out and tipping as much as I can, maybe eating in a patio someday. It’s really only a couple months more, guys. Westwoods will still be there.