UCC offers help to small businesses as Costco approaches opening

ROSEBURG, Ore. (KMTR) -- Just next month in August, Costco Wholesale will open a new warehouse in Roseburg and while the new store means new jobs, one group is trying to prepare smaller locally owned businesses for a potential shift in the local retail scene.

Umpqua Community College’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is inviting local businesses to participate in a July seminar, focusing on how their business could be impacted by the Costco Wholesale corporate giant.

Peter Bober is the Director of the UCC’s SBDC. Bober created the seminar after several seeing local businesses close in Corvallis and Albany when Costco opened a store there. He says the course is about being proactive.

“Rather than just wait and see what happens, to begin and get in there and think about, 'okay, so where can we effectively compete with CostCo?’” says Bober. “So things like having, you know, enhanced customer service and really be able to give that one-on-one relationship with their customer.

Bober expects businesses will see a change in sales patterns when Costco arrives.

“If you’re selling copier paper, you’re not going to be able to compete with Costco. If you’re a wholesale grocer, I think it will be touch in someway to compete with Costco.” Bober says Costco is also extremely hard to compete with in the realm of tire and gasoline sales. Both of those items will be sold in the Roseburg Costco.

UCC’s Small Business Development Center is hosting the “Costco: Opportunities and Challenges” seminar on July 22^nd, 2010. The course costs $20 to enroll. The event runs from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Roseburg Public Safety Center on 700 SE Douglas Avenue.

Pre-registration is required for the event. To do that, call the UCC SBDC at 541-440-4669. For more information, contact Pete Bober at 541-440-4673.