Costco Is Headed to Campus Parkway. What's Open at Gateway Marketplace Now, and What's Still Only a Plan

Costco has run its Merced warehouse at 1445 R St. since 1993, according to the company's website. It's the retailer's only location in Merced County. In mid-October, city officials said that store will move to Gateway Marketplace, the shopping center near Coffee Street and Campus Parkway off Highway 99. The Merced Sun-Star reported the move, and the same officials said eight more businesses are planned for the site.

City officials also gave the move its schedule: "Construction and opening schedules will become clearer as infrastructure is installed, and the necessary building permits are secured." So the plan comes with a list of names, and the timing depends on pipes, pads and paperwork. One coffee shop next door shows how much room there is between those two.

The land was approved before any of these names were attached

Gateway Marketplace isn't a new idea. In 2017, the City of Merced announced that the City Council had approved the project's environmental impact report and land-use documents for a 601,127-square-foot center. The Pluim family and Sonora-based California Gold Development Corp. formed Merced Gateway Development to build it. The city's economic development materials still describe the retail pads across Phases 1 through 3 as "fully entitled as a Planned Development for retail commercial development."

The first phase filled in slowly. In April 2025, the Fresno Bee reported that about 42 undeveloped acres were being offered for sale and that Gateway was looking for a new master developer for its next two phases. Eighteen months later, the October announcements are the first time much of that remaining ground has had tenant names attached in public.

That's why the October news matters. The land has been approved for years. The new part is that city officials have named the national retailers planned for it.

What's already standing on that corner

The Gateway area already has a few businesses that people use. In October, the Sun-Star listed Tractor Supply Co., McDonald's and Merced's second Chipotle Mexican Grill as recent openings near the site.

The road is also in place. A 2018 Merced County release described Campus Parkway as a four-lane route linking the Highway 99/Mission Avenue interchange toward Yosemite Avenue, intended to improve traffic circulation and support growth. By April 2025, the Fresno Bee reported that the parkway had been widened, and developers described it as ready for more traffic from planned businesses and housing.

So the corridor and the first anchor tenants are already there. What still has to come is the work on each individual pad, which is the infrastructure and permitting the city's statement refers to.

Dunkin' shows how a date moves

Dunkin' is the clearest example of how long a timeline on this corner can stretch. The city announced it as part of Campus Parkway Plaza, and the Sun-Star's October roundup lists it with Gateway Marketplace's expansion. Here's how its expected opening has been reported:

1. October 2025: A Sun-Star photo caption says the City of Merced announced a Dunkin' for the Campus Parkway area, expected to open in spring 2026.
2. May 7, 2026: A Sun-Star article puts the expected window at late July to early August.
3. October 23, 2026: The Sun-Star's roundup of new Merced businesses reports that store employees said the location was preparing for a mid-November opening.

That puts Dunkin' first in line among this round of Campus Parkway projects. Its expected opening has moved twice, and it has taken about a year from the city's announcement to get one coffee shop close to opening. Costco, T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and the others are bigger buildings, and the city has tied their schedules to infrastructure and permits.

The rest of the list, and what each one changes in Merced

The planned stores aren't all equal for Merced shoppers. Some would be firsts for the city. Others would be second stores for chains that are already here.

The first-ever stores tie back to something readers asked for. In April 2026, a Sun-Star reader poll asked which businesses people most wanted in Merced. Trader Joe's led with 8 votes, followed by Chick-fil-A with 5 and Dave's Hot Chicken with 4. WinCo Foods, T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Raising Cane's and Barnes & Noble each drew 2. Six months later, three names from that list have Merced plans: T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods at Gateway, and Raising Cane's in part of the former Big Lots space at 665 Fairfield Drive in the Marketplace at Merced.

The second stores tell you something else. Ross, Burlington and Five Below already have Merced locations, and they're choosing to add a second one on Campus Parkway. That's a decision about where the next group of shoppers will be.

Why the city is pointing everything toward Campus Parkway

The city has explained its reasoning. Merced Deputy City Manager Frank Quintero laid out the demand case to ABC30:

"We're going to need, actually, more commercial land to take care of the demand that we're going to have within our population."

In the same report, Quintero said Merced's population has doubled since he moved here 36 years ago and that he expects it to pass 100,000 by next year, a growth he attributed largely to UC Merced and Merced College. Campus Parkway leads toward UC Merced, which he said is why bringing more businesses along it makes sense. ABC30 also reported that new homes are already going up near the parkway and Coffee Street.

On the Costco move itself, Francisco Mendoza, the city's economic development administrator, told ABC30: "Folks have often expressed wanting to see a newer facility."

Quintero also named an earlier turning point. The vacant Sears that was refurbished into the Shoppes at Merced "has really caused interest to spike up in Merced," he said, calling it "sort of the catalyst for larger developers to start looking at Merced again." Five Below's first Merced store opened there earlier this year, and the chain now plans a second one at Gateway. Five Below came to Merced through that reused building, and its next store is planned for Campus Parkway.

What stays on the west side for now

Until Costco moves, the Costco run stays on R Street. Its location at 1445 R St. is still the only one in the county. ABC30 reported that city leaders are still discussing what to do with the old Costco site once the warehouse relocates.

The older retail areas are adding businesses too. The October Sun-Star roundup lists Pollo Campero planning a location along R Street next to the new Aspen Dental. Spencer's is set for the empty space between Shoe Palace and Aeropostale at the Marketplace at Merced, with mall officials planning a late 2026 or early 2027 opening. Teriyaki Madness appears in city building permit records at 3040 Park Ave., Suite E3. On G Street in North Merced, construction is underway at Yosemite Crossing for Chipotle, Poki Bowl, Angry Chickz and Menchie's Frozen Yogurt. That Chipotle will be the chain's third in Merced.

So Gateway is getting the biggest names, but it isn't pulling everything away from the rest of town. Merced's shopping map is getting a new southeast anchor while R Street, the Marketplace at Merced and G Street keep filling in. Because the Gateway buildings have to wait for infrastructure and permits, the R Street Costco will be in use for a while longer.

If you own a home near Campus Parkway or R Street and want to know how a new Costco, T.J. Maxx or HomeGoods close by could affect what buyers ask about your street, Martin Villanueva follows these Merced projects as they move from site plan to opening and can walk you through it in English or Spanish. Schedule a Free Consultation.