Costco’s Largest Rival May Expand to the Boise Area Soon, Here’s What We Know

If there’s one thing we’ve come to learn about the Boise area, it’s that they’re passionate about Costco! Whether they’re changing items available in their store, foods for purchase in their food court or simply changing up their gas station hours…our Costco stories are some of the most read of 2025. 

And that’s totally fair. In the Treasure Valley, there’s really no other retailer that you can compare to Costco. Target, Fred Meyer and Walmart could be considered challengers on a general merchandise level. Albertsons and Winco, more so, are rivals on the grocery side of things, but do any of these retailers compete with Costco on a bulk product level? We don’t think so. 

When you look at American retail from a 30,000 foot view, Walmart owned Sam’s Club is really the only comparable direct competitor that Costco has. While this author has been in Idaho for close to 15 years, they grew up in a part of Northeast Ohio where Sam’s Club was THE go to warehouse destination. While the location of the warehouse in her hometown bounced around, she remembers going shopping at Sam’s since birth. Meanwhile, the first Costco location in the state didn’t exist until we were in the seventh grade. 

READ MORE: Idaho Costco Locations Just Made Another BIG Change and You’ll Love It

Idaho’s a very different situation. Costco’s been the warehouse store fixture in Boise for nearly 37 years. Twin Falls would become the second Costco location in 1993, with five more locations to follow across the state from 2004-2020. 

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But could the Boise, Meridian and Nampa stores be getting some new competition? While we haven’t been able to find planning or building permits to back it up, there’s a Reddit rumor circulating that Sam’s Club could be making a return to the Treasure Valley as part of the “District at Ten Mile” project near Scheels. The District at Ten Mile is a joint venture between several entities including Ball Ventures, Balls Ventures Ahlquist, Adler Industrial and the former CEO of the company that brought the Village at Meridian to town. 

The post reads:

Take this with a grain of salt, since it's not been confirmed. But word on the street (allegedly from some local Walmart managers) is that Sam's Club will be going in off Ten Mile/I-84 across the street from Scheels. So it may be part of the new "District at Ten Mile" development…

…I've wondered lately if Sam's Club may make a return given the massive growth we've had. Traffic in the Ten Mile/I-84 area is pretty bad already, but hopefully it will be improved once they get the new highway 16 exit open. Then all the Emmett and Star commuters won't be using Ten Mile to get to the freeway.

Right now, the only Sam’s Club location in Idaho is in Idaho Falls at 700 E 17th Street, but the warehouse store used to have a location in Nampa. Opened in 2006, it can be seen in this grainy Google Maps image from 2007.

The store closed in January 2010 (before this author moved here) and became the CWI Micron Center. 

We haven’t uncovered any planning or building permits that confirm the rumor yet, but as someone who enjoyed a weekly, Sunday mid-morning/post-church/free sample eating date at the Sam’s Club in Boardman, Ohio, we’re here for the nostalgia!