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The plan to relaunch the Málaga Nostrum retail park with the construction of a superstore from the American Costco chain, on the site currently taken up by the cinemas, has been delayed. Work was scheduled to begin last autumn on the refurbishment of the building that used to house the Conforama furniture shop in order to move the cinemas to this space. However, with 2025 under way, this project has not yet started.
As SUR has learnt, the contracting of these initial works by the Bogaris group, owner of the shopping centre, has not yet been finalised. However, all indications are that the project could be awarded in the near future, enabling work to begin within the first few weeks of this year.
The conversion of the former Conforama building into a complex offering 14 cinemas on the first floor and shops on the ground floor, reflecting the design of the architect Salvador Moreno Peralta, depends on whether the current cinema building, which will be demolished to make way for the Costco supermarket, can be vacated.
According to the deadlines known so far, the renovation of the Conforama to house the new cinemas will take a year, and the demolition of the current ones about six months. As a result, there is still at least a year and a half to go before the construction of the Costco shop, a project directed by the Basque architect Antxon Taberna, may begin. The superstore is expected to take nine months to build, so there are still more than two years to go before Costco will open its doors.
One of the most important features of the building is the large number of parking spaces it will have. This suggests that it aims to attract a large number of customers, lured by the opportunities and low prices of the supermarket. Costco operates as a kind of club in which members pay an annual fee of around 36 euros per year for individuals, and 30 euros for companies and the self-employed. The urban planning regulations require a minimum of 400 parking spaces for this project, which Costco is going to increase to a total of 640. These spaces will be distributed between the basement floor and the ground floor of the building, most of which will be dedicated to parking.
On this ground floor there will also be a tyre replacement workshop and the main entrance points to the superstore. The pedestrian access will be on the corner of Jaén and Tarragona streets, and cars will be able to enter the car park via Ávila, Tarragona and Jaén streets. In addition, there will be a fourth access for goods vehicles at the south-west end of the building, which will have three docks for goods transportation.
The developers of this project, jointly sponsored by Costco and the Bogaris group, have drawn up a traffic study which concludes that the superstore is "viable" because "it does not imply, in general terms, a decrease in the quality of traffic service levels in the area". However, the study points out that on a Saturday afternoon there could be a circulation of 970 vehicles in the area, which is why they are calling for the creation of a working group with the central government, the city hall and the Spanish association of retail estates. This group would look to implement measures that promote public transport and cycling, thereby avoiding the use of the roundabout located next to the shopping centre as a connection point with the MA-22 road to the Poniente promenade.
Costco's retail space is planned for the first floor of the future building, which is costed at 26.4 million euros. The store area will occupy a surface area of more than 12,000 square metres, of which 5,811 square metres will be for the general sales area, 2,777 for shelving and stocking tables, and 641 square metres for access and cash desks, among other uses.
The sales area will have spaces for butchers, dairy products, fruit and vegetables, fish, frozen food, bakery and pastries, and a ready meals area, with an area for preparing roasts. One of the hallmarks of this unique superstore chain, present in 14 countries around the world, is to offer low and competitive prices with its 'low cost' philosophy. The white label (Kirkland Signature) marks the high quality of their products and their family savings packs are particularly attractive to customers.
On its austere, warehouse-like shelves, the company boasts of offering "savings and quality". "Costs are kept to a minimum, we don't spend on advertising or fancy materials," as a note on their website explains. Costco's stores save as much as possible on their facilities and logistics, appearing like industrial warehouses where the products are distributed in large aisles stacked on high shelves. Another of their main hallmarks is the large format, not only in the space of their stores. The vast majority of products are sold in extra-large sizes or family packs with the aim of selling a large volume in order to establish profits and so achieve lower prices.
Another attraction of this transformation of the Málaga Nostrum shopping centre, valued at a total of more than 60 million euros, is the construction of a petrol station also to be managed by Costco, which typically offers service stations next to its supermarkets. It will be built on the site of one of the demolished commercial warehouses on the block where Conforama was located.
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