Lloydminster is getting a new Tim Hortons, and it's going next to the Costco.
The new restaurant is planned for 75 Ave., on the same corridor where Lloydminster's first-ever Costco is currently under construction. No opening date has been confirmed yet.
A new build, not a renovation
The location is part of a $400 million national expansion Tim Hortons announced May 22. Across Canada, 340 restaurant owners are investing $270 million of their own money this year to build or renovate 480 locations, with Tim Hortons corporate adding another $130 million. Alberta is getting 17 new builds and 49 renovations 66 projects total.
Lloydminster's location is one of those new builds, not a renovation. That distinction matters. The updated format includes a redesigned digital ordering and mobile pickup area, upgraded kitchen equipment, and a revamped baked goods showcase. Construction materials come from Canadian suppliers, with custom furniture handcrafted in Montreal from 100 per cent Canadian-sourced maple.
"Tim Hortons was built in Canada by Canadians, and we are proud to continue investing in Canada to give our guests beautiful, modern restaurants to enjoy," said Axel Schwan, president of Tim Hortons.
Why Lloydminster, why now
Lloydminster's retail economy is bigger than most Albertans realize. During his State of the City address in May, Mayor Gerald Aalbers said Lloydminster's total trading area retail spending hit over $3 billion in 2025. The primary trading zone roughly 150 kilometres west of the city generates $2.46 billion on its own. The eastern zone adds another $749 million.
That trading area matters because Lloydminster isn't just serving its own 31,000 residents. The city sits at the midpoint between Edmonton and Saskatoon, straddling the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, and draws shoppers from Wainwright, Vermilion, Battleford, and dozens of smaller communities who don't have access to major retail locally. The city issued 1,941 business licences in 2025, up from 1,845 in 2023 a signal, Aalbers said, of growing confidence in the local economy.
The Costco under construction on 75 Ave. is the most visible sign of that confidence. Retailers follow each other into markets where the fundamentals work, and the fundamentals in Lloydminster a heavy oil economy, a cross-provincial trade catchment, and steady population growth have been working for years.
Why 75 Ave. specifically
Placing a Tim Hortons next to a Costco isn't an accident. Costco locations generate some of the highest sustained daily traffic of any retail format in Canada, and quick-service restaurants anchored beside them consistently outperform freestanding locations. The city has already committed nearly $3.3 million in road upgrades along 75 Ave. between 12 Street and 19 Street widening, signalization, and full repaving ahead of the Costco opening. That infrastructure investment signals where commercial activity in Lloydminster is heading.
An exact opening date has not been announced.
SOURCES:
Tim Hortons press release, May 22, 2026 (newswire.ca)
Mayor Gerald Aalbers, State of the City address, May 2026
City of Lloydminster, building permit and road upgrade records
