Is Costco Wholesale Finally Coming to Fayetteville?

Our long local nightmare may finally be over, as Costco Wholesale appears to have plans to come to Fayetteville.

Cityview Today first reported that plans for the warehouse club had been filed for review with Cumberland County. (See full plans here.) The store would be in the Military Industrial Park off Santa Fe Drive, next to All-American.

Filing plans for review is a required practice for businesses as they seek local approval for site plans. According to the Cumberland County Development Review Finder report, the Costco plans were filed on August 10, 2022.

If the plans are approved, and Costco does follow through with it - which is not a guarantee, even when site plans are filed - the 151,000 square foot building would be within the Military Industrial Park, where currently, Fayetteville Technical Community College has their CollisionU program. There is also a defense contractor in the park, and on the Bragg Blvd. side of the property, an Amazon Warehouse is being constructed.

According to Cityview Today, city officials said the review was essentially a courtesy "practice run" before final approval.

There is currently no timeline for when the store may be built, if officially approved. Costco currently has 10 stores in North Carolina, with locations in Wilmington, Apex, Garner, Raleigh, Durham and others.

It would be a direct competitor with Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club, who already have a presence in the Fayetteville market.

Fall is in the air, and it's time to think about pumpkin patches and apple orchards, and now you can get some of the best in the country right here in North Carolina.

USA Today released its annual 10 Best Apple Orchards in America list, and we've got one of those right here in our neck of the woods. Our good friend Chris Michaels at our sister station WGAC in Augusta first reported about the list for Beasley.

"To find the top spots for apples across the nation, a panel of experts made 20 nominations and our readers voted for the 10 best apple orchards," USA Today said.

According to the story, there are more than 5,000 growers of apples across the country. They produce 240 million bushels of the tasty fruits every year.

The U.S. Apple Association says that 10.7 billion pounds of apples will be produced this year. Here in North Carolina, there are more than 300 commercial apple producers. And according to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the four main types of the fruits produced here are Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty and Stayman.

Unfortunately for us, most of those apple orchards are on the Western side of the state, because they need cooler temperatures to properly grow. But fortunately for us, one of the best in the country is over there!

So let's take a look at those top 10 apple orchards, including the one right here in North Carolina.