After years of waiting, Costco has opened its doors in Orillia.

People  lined up as early as 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday just to be one of the first inside the new 154,000 sq. ft. Costco location.

“Just to be able to come here in a minutes notice and just to be able to get what we need and not worry about travelling all the way to Barrie,” says Nadine Lagoie, customer.

The new location is bigger than most of the company’s other location in Canada. It’s also brought 225 jobs to the city, with about half of those being filled by people who worked at the Barrie location.

“Brings people in. Tourists will stop here and buy groceries on the way to the cottage and things like that. It's just going to be excellent,” another customer said.

The arrival is a big deal for the city of 30,000 people. Mayor Steve Clarke is hopeful the store’s opening will have a trickledown effect.

“They bring thousands of people to our city on a daily basis. So to whatever degree those other, those folks outside the walls of Costco stop and do some shopping will have a significant impact on Orillia as well,” he says.

If you’re looking to do some shopping, you can find Costco’s newest location in the area of University Avenue and Diana Drive.