First Costco on Native American land in US coming near Scottsdale

Article originally posted on AZ Central on March 27, 2026

Costco will begin construction this summer on land in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, part of the Scottsdale AutoShow at Salt River.

The Costco will total 162,000 square feet and employ about 250 people full time, said Bryan Meyers, community manager for Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community at a tribal council meeting on March 11.

The retailer agreed to hiring preferences for tribal members, Meyers said at the meeting.

The store will sit on about 21.6 acres and Costco will pay a one-time lump sum in rent to the tribe for the initial lease period of 65 years. The project will be located near Indian School and Pima roads.

It is expected to break ground in July and open by January 2027, Meyers said at the meeting.

The Scottsdale AutoShow idea started around 2014, said Jim Mullin, CEO of Mullin 360, the developer of the project.

At the time, dealers on McDowell Road in Scottsdale were seeing a decline in sales. When the AutoShow development was built near the Loop 101, the dealerships were able to take advantage of a more convenient location and high traffic, Mullin said.

The 84-acre AutoShow still has some vacancies, which were originally planned for all car dealerships. But, after the pandemic, some dealers that were expected to expand there chose not to, leaving space that needed to be filled by something else.

“We were looking for the highest sales tax revenues after car dealerships, and Costco came to the top,” Mullin said. He and his team approached Costco in late 2024 to pitch the site as a location.

It will be the first Costco located on a Native American reservation, tribal officials said.

While Costco will use up a portion of the remaining land in the AutoShow, Mullin said there is still activity from car dealers. Mullin said one dealer planning to use 9 acres is nearing announcement, and he is in discussions with two other dealers. If all those projects come through, it will use up the remaining land for car dealerships in the 84-acre development.

Costco is planning a large expansion of its stores. On its earnings call in March, CEO Ron Vachris said the company expects to have 28 new store openings in the 2026 fiscal year, and expects 30 or more per year in the coming years.