[Grammar] How do I get to (the) Costco Department Store?

[sitifan]

1. How do I get to Costco Department Store?
2. How do I get to the Costco Department Store?

Which of the above sentences is correct?

 

[5jj]

I'd just ask How do I get to Costco, please?

 

[sitifan]

I'd just ask How do I get to Costco, please?

Do you use "the" before the proper name of a department store?

 

[5jj]

Not usually.

 

[jutfrank]

Why have you capitalised Department Store?

Do you mean that Costco Department Store is the full name of the store? I find that very unlikely. I think you mean that the name is Costco and 'department store' is what it is. If that is the case, see 5jj's suggestion in post #2.

 

[Yankee]

1. How do I get to Costco Department Store?
2. How do I get to the Costco Department Store?

Which of the above sentences is correct?

Either would be understood.

 

[Tdol]

Not usually.

Offhand, I can't think of one I would use the definite article with.

 

[5jj]

Many years ago, my mother would do most of her Christmas Shopping at the Co-op.

 

[Tdol]

That sounds a bit Four Yorkshiremen as a department store. My mum shopped there too.

 

[TheParser]

Do you use "the" before the proper name of a department store?

NOT A TEACHER

Sitifan, here in Los Angeles, we used to have two very popular department stores with "the" in their titles.

Back in those days, I might have written something like "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at The/the Broadway," but never "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at Broadway."

And I might have written something like "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at the May Company," but never "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at The May Company" or "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at May Company."

"Broadway" was once the main shopping street in downtown Los Angeles; "May" was the last name of the man who bought that business.

 

[SoothingDave]

If I knew there was a Costco in the area, then I would definitely be thinking of a specific one. So asking "How do I get to the Costco?" is a perfectly fine question for me. The "the" is not part of the name, but I am asking about that particular one.

And Costco is not a department store. At least not in the traditional sense. I have never heard anyone refer to it or Sam's Club as "department stores." They are "warehouse clubs" or "big box" stores.

 

[Phaedrus]

Sitifan, here in Los Angeles, we used to have two very popular department stores with "the" in their titles.

Back in those days, I might have written something like "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at The/the Broadway," but never "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at Broadway."

And I might have written something like "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at the May Company," but never "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at The May Company" or "Yesterday I spent five hours shopping at May Company."

"Broadway" was once the main shopping street in downtown Los Angeles; "May" was the last name of the man who bought that business.

It's the same way up here in Sacramento. I'm always mildly surprised when I go to Home Depot and use the self-checkout cash register, which concludes the transaction by thanking me for shopping at the Home Depot. I never hear people speak of shopping at the Home Depot, even though "the" is officially part of its name. Almost everyone just speaks of shopping at Home Depot (no "the").

 

[Tdol]

The Four Yorkshiremen is a famous comedy sketch where four rich men from poor backgrounds make ridiculous claims about how poor they had been as children. The Co-op is a supermarket that was founded on cheap prices and for the benefit of working class people, so it is not like places like Harrods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k