A line wrapped around the brand-new Costco warehouse in Camarillo by the 7:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, Oct. 30, and by the time doors opened at 7:45 a.m., all of the store's roughly 900 newly striped parking spaces were already full. The first person through those doors wasn't a local at all — it was Isaiah Partain, who drove more than 1,200 miles from Great Falls, Montana, with his dog just to be there.
A Crowd That Started Forming the Night Before
The 7:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony at the 431 W. Ventura Blvd. location followed arrivals the previous afternoon, according to the Thousand Oaks Acorn. Partain told the paper he hoped to buy Disneyland tickets for his family and other items once inside. JoAnn Perez made the drive from Lancaster and arrived at 3 p.m. the previous afternoon just to secure a spot near the front of the line, hoping to snag Costco's limited Disneyland ticket packages that are often offered at grand openings.
Not every early arrival was chasing theme-park deals. Seattle resident Israel Ruelas got there around 1:30 p.m. the day before, explaining that he makes a habit of attending Costco store openings around the country in search of allocated bourbons and limited-release spirits. His wish list for the day, per the same report, was simpler: a churro and a pizza.
Officials and Cheerleaders Join the Ceremony
Costco CEO Ron Vachris attended the Camarillo opening, joining Camarillo High School cheerleaders, local officials and members of the West Ventura County Business Alliance at the ribbon-cutting. Andy Conli, the alliance's president and CEO, brought his 12-year-old stepson Tristan Moore and said he was floored by the turnout. Conli, whose organization serves Camarillo, Oxnard and Port Hueneme, said another Costco in west Ventura County means jobs and tax revenue for the city.
Camarillo Mayor David Tennessen, who welcomed Costco to the 93010 ZIP code on behalf of the city and fellow council members, said in his Oct. 22 State of the City address that the city expects the store to generate approximately $1.5 million in annual tax revenue. At the Costco opening, Tennessen described a two-year journey between Costco and the city to bring the warehouse to fruition. Ventura County Supervisor Kelly Long also welcomed Costco to Camarillo, while Trey Cardwell, the warehouse's general manager, said he was proud to represent the company in the city.
Longtime Residents Watch the Neighborhood Transform
Not everyone in line was new to the area. Monty Boswell, an 87-year-old Camarillo resident, drove past the warehouse at 9 p.m. the night before opening just to see it, then returned at 5:30 a.m. with his wife, Lois Sartori. Boswell remembers the ranches that covered Camarillo in the 1940s, long before the freeway reshaped the community — and, in a twist he appreciated, his son manages a Costco in North Dakota.
Sylvia Jaquez found her own way to mark the occasion, buying bottles of a special Camarillo wine offered for the opening. She planned to keep one bottle as a souvenir and send another to her son in Texas. The store is also expected to sell some local products going forward, though specifics on suppliers haven't been detailed.
Filling a Gap Left by Decades-Old Stores
Ventura County Costco shoppers have long driven to Oxnard, which opened its warehouse in 1985, or to Simi Valley and Westlake Village, both of which opened in 1996. An earlier report from the Camarillo Acorn described the then-planned 160,000-square-foot warehouse as a likely major sales-tax generator for the city and noted it was expected to bring hundreds of permanent positions; the completed store ultimately measures 162,000 square feet.
A project page from W.L. Butler previously estimated that 36,650 Camarillo residents had visited the Oxnard Costco, accounting for 386,740 total visits, while roughly 12,710 Camarillo residents visited the Westlake store and 6,260 visited the Simi Valley location — figures the page offered as evidence of pent-up local demand in a leakage analysis covering the last 12 months. For shoppers like Boswell, who watched the ranchland give way to freeways decades ago, the opening-day crowds were simply the latest chapter in a town that keeps growing around them.
