Costco is set to create 500 jobs when it opens two new depots this year.

The outlets are within a 50-mile radius of each other, in Southampton and Farnborough, and are expected to create around 250 jobs each.

They have both been stuck in the planning process for some time but are part of the US wholesaling giant’s plans to open 14 new sites globally before September this year. It already has 23 depots in the UK, and 622 worldwide.

The 130,000 sq ft site in Southampton is due to open in March/April and the Farnborough site will open later in the year.

The new sites follow the opening of a new depot in Leicester in December last year - the first Coscto depot to open since Coventry in August 2010.

In its most recent available accounts, the wholesaler said the UK market was “large enough to continue opening one to two locations a year for the foreseeable future” and was on the hunt for locations “that had easily accessible roads and a high proportion of businesses.”

“The directors believe Costco has a potential of approximately 45 to 50 locations over the long term,” it added

However, restrictive planning laws had prevented it from opening depots as fast as it would have liked, FD Magan Chauhan told The Grocer last month. Costco would like the government to “relax planning laws” to help its business, he said.

And in Costco’s December hearing with the Competition Commission on Booker’s acquisition of Makro, it said: “The principal barrier to expansion was planning consents as a result [of the lengthy delays] landowners had been reluctant to agree deals that would then be tied up in the planning consent process.”

Costco’s profits fell 35.1% to £13.5m in the year to August 2011, on sales up 4.5% to £1.5bn.

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