They’re calling it the ‘Indian Costco’ and for customers visiting the first-of-its-kind store in Australia it’s easy to see why. Words David Campbell.
Bulk shopping? Check. Annual membership to get in? Check. ‘Co’ in the name? Check. Welcome to Grosco, the newly-opened Indian wholesale supermarket located in Western Sydney.
The Penrith store opened its doors to the public in March, and offers more than 1000 products available in bulk and regular sizes.
The concept of a store catering to Sydney’s Indian population is backed by growth of that community in the last decade. Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals Indians are the second-biggest migrant group in Australia behind only England. Those born in India total about 916,000 people, a number which has more than doubled since 2014.
In NSW, the number of people born in India swelled to 219,000 in 2024, up 462 percent from 39,000 in 2014.
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Like US retail giant Costco, Grosco charges customers an annual membership they claim will pay for itself within just a few shops. Memberships bought in the store’s opening month will cost $79 before moving to $99 per year from April.
While Grosco bills itself as Australia’s first members-only Indian wholesale supermarket, it also stocks Australian and South Asian groceries.
“Traditional grocery stores mark up products 30-50 percent,” a spokesman said. “We don’t do that. Grosco runs on razor-thin margins because we’d rather have thousands of members saving money than charge a few customers inflated prices. The membership fee is what keeps our business running.
“A family spending $100 per week on Indian groceries saves approximately $1200-$1800 per year at Grosco compared to any other Indian grocery store. That’s a holiday. That’s school fees. That’s money back where it belongs in your pocket.”
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“Exotic Grocer has been serving Sydney’s Indian and South Asian communities across multiple stores, building a reputation for quality products and fair prices,” the spokesman continued. “But the team kept hearing the same thing from customers: ‘Why is Indian grocery shopping so expensive in Australia?’
“It’s a fair question. A 5kg bag of basmati rice shouldn’t cost so much when you know the real price. A box of spices shouldn’t be marked up 50 percent just because it’s imported. Families buying atta, dal and rice every single week shouldn’t be paying retail margins on staples.
“So we asked ourselves: what if we cut our own profits to give families the lowest prices possible? What if, instead of a traditional grocery store, we built something closer to a wholesale retail – a warehouse where members get access to wholesale prices that no regular Indian store can match?”
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Community response to Grosco’s opening has been huge, with people flocking to the store in its opening days.
Grosco’s grand opening comes as the original warehouse retailer, Costco, reveals its own expansion plans for Australia. Costco is rapidly expanding its footprint across Australia, aggressively targeting new locations to join the 15 stores already in operation across the country.
The US retail giant is set to open two new warehouses next year in Victoria and Western Australia, with a focused search underway for additional sites in North and South Sydney, Perth and Adelaide. Significantly, Costco is also planning its inaugural stores in Tasmania and Geelong, marking a strategic push into new markets.
This article originally appeared on realcommercial.com.au. It has been reproduced here with permission.
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