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The chain-based retail sector in mid-Sarasota County, left for dead in the recession, is showing some life.
The latest jolt: Costco, the membership warehouse that sells everything from tires to tomatoes, started construction on a store at the Westfield Sarasota Square Mall on U.S. 41. Costco is the latest addition in a multiyear, $50 million revitalization effort at the mall that includes a new 12-screen AMC Theatre and 25,000 square feet of additional retail space.
Costco is expected to open next summer, in space formerly occupied by Dillard's, a department store that was a mall anchor before it closed. Other chains that have announced or already opened stores in the area, about halfway between downtown Sarasota and Venice, include Home Depot, Lowe's and Kohl's.
The new stores are a big difference from a few years ago, when closings were the news of the day. Chains that left the area back then include Kmart and Linens n' Things.
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