Clay Chandler

The Clarion-Ledger

Costco Wholesale is examining at least three sites in the Jackson Metro area for a possible store.

Flowood mayor Gary Rhoads said that he talked with site selection consultants for the wholesaler within the past couple weeks, and they had told him two sites in that city were in the running. One is across Highway 25 from Flowood's Walmart Supercenter; the other sits behind Dogwood Shopping Center on Lakeland Drive.

The Jackson site is where Smith-Wills Stadium currently sits.

"The last time I spoke with them, they said they were still looking at all of them," Rhoads said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.

Jackson's Planning Board will consider later this month whether to rezone Smith-Wills Stadium and the surrounding area from special to commercial use. Such a switch would be required before Costco could locate on that site. A spokeswoman for Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber did not immediately return a cell phone message left Wednesday afternoon. Ward 7 councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said she had tried this week to learn the reasoning behind the zoning request change at the Smith-Wills site.

"And I've had a difficult time finding out anything," she said. "It's being handled in a most unusual way." For example, she said, the zoning request does not have a case number assigned to it, something that typically happens. "You wouldn't have any way to find what you were looking for" without one, Barrett-Simon said.

Rhoads said the two Flowood sites are already zoned for commercial use.

A Costco in the Jackson area would be the first store in Mississippi. The Issaquah, Washington-based wholesaler operates 465 locations in 43 states, and 658 warehouses worldwide. The list of locations coming soon on the company's website did not include a store in Jackson or Flowood.

Costco is a direct competitor to Sam's Club, which will close its Jackson store on County Line Road later this year. Sam's will open a new store in Madison next year at the intersection of Grandview Boulevard and Madison Avenue.

A Costco spokesman declined comment.

Contact Clay Chandler at (601) 961-7264 or cchandler@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @claychand on Twitter.