Toronto is getting a new Costco store – the fourth ever to grace our city – which should come as exciting news to value shoppers in and around Thorncliffe Park.

The American membership-only warehouse club has long been rumoured to be taking over the site of Coca-Cola Canada's former headquarters on Overlea Boulevard.

Construction is now well underway on the RICE Group development, and with an expected completion date of February 2018, it looks like a sure thing.

COSTCO

==wholesale

Coming Soon

opening spring 2018#Thorncliffe pic.twitter.com/Pvq0kAFtcW — Rudy Limeback (@rudydotca) September 22, 2017

Still, some local residents have been raising concerns over how the big box store's existence could impact local business or, more recently, make traffic congestion in the area worse.

In order to address traffic concerns, the city ordered the project's developers to make some changes benefiting local roadways, such as modifying medians and traffic signals in the area.

Will these measures prevent the expected problems? That remains to be seen – but I can say that residents of Thorncliffe Park will never have to buy overpriced batteries again.