Tim Talevich, Seattle 425-313-6759 ttalevich@costco.com
Lorelle Gilpin, Ottawa 613-221-2009 Lorelle.Gilpin@costco.com
Sue Knowles, London 011-44-1923-213113 sknowles@costco.co.uk
Raymond Kyunghwan Kim, Seoul 82-2-2630-2703 khkim@costcokr.com
SENIOR EDITOR T. Foster Jones Tod.Jones@costco.com
ONLINE EDITOR David Wight David. Wight@costco.com
ASSISTAN T EDITOR Jacqueline Jin, Seoul jjin@costcokr.com
REPORTERS
Will Fifield wfifield@costco.com
Stephanie E. Ponder sponder@costco.com
Steve Fisher steve.fisher@costco.com
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Dorothy Strakele 425-313-6899 connection@costco.com
COPY EDITOR Miriam Bulmer
CONTRIBUTORS
Rhonda Abrams, Brian Basset, Charles Bermant,
Gloria Blakely, David Horowitz, Leah Ingram,
Steven L. Kent, Lisa Alcalay Klug, Jan Moran, Donna Patané,
Valerie Ryan, Marc Saltzman, Dorman T. Shindler, Pat Volchok
ART DIRECTOR Doris Winters dwinters@costco.com
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR
Lory Williams lwilliams@costco.com
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Ken Broman, Bill Carlson, Susan Detlor, Chris Rusnak,
David Schneider, Dawna Tessier
PRODUCTION MANAGER Pam Sather psather@costco.com
ASSISTAN T PRODUCTION MANAGER
Antolin Matsuda amatsuda@costco.com
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
Elaine Emond, Ottawa Elaine. Emond@costco.com
COLOR TECHNICIAN MaryAnne Robbers mrobbers@costco.com
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Jane Klein Shucklin 425-313-8277 jshucklin@costco.com
ASSISTANT ADVERTISING MANAGER
Kathi Tipper-Holgersen 425-313-6581 ktipper@costco.com
ADVERTISING COORDINATORS
Isabel Levasseur, Ottawa 613-221-2394
Isabel.Levasseur@costco.com
Deborah Lipman, London 011-44-1923-830481
dlipman@costco.co.uk
Steve Trump, Seattle 425-313-6969 strump@costco.com
ADVERTISING / PROMOTION COPYWRITER
Bill Urlevich
BUSINESS MANAGER Janet Burgess
CIRCULATION MANAGER Rossie Cruz 425-313-6715
rcruz@costco.com
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTAN T
D. Ted Harris 425-313-2937 dtharris@costco.com
COSTCO WHOLESALE
P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088
999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, Washington 98027
Fax: 425-313-6718
E-mail: connection@costco.com
For information on warehouse hours and more:
1-800-774-2678 costco.com
The Costco Connection is published by Costco Wholesale. All
facts, opinions and statements appearing within this publication
are those of the writers and editors themselves, and are in no
way to be construed as statements, positions or endorsements
by Costco Wholesale or its officers. Publishing offices are located
at 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA 98027. Information in The
Costco Connection is gathered from sources considered to be
reliable, but the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed. Copyright © 2006 Costco Wholesale. Products advertised
may not be available at all locations at time of publication.
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
AS OUR COVER STORY on page 22 explains, Costco
has long been a global company. We are proud to serve
more than 45 million Costco shoppers in 494 warehouses worldwide, with 25 percent of them located
outside the United States. Our global nature has also
enabled us to source products from around the world
to offer our members the highest possible quality at the
lowest possible price—every day, everywhere.
For example, in our warehouses in the U.S., Canada,
Mexico, the United Kingdom, Korea, Japan and Taiwan
you’ll find cherries from California and Washington,
watermelons from Korea, kiwi fruit from New Zealand and red grapes from Chile. Our
expansion continues as we prepare to open another 35 warehouses this year and eagerly
anticipate the opening of our milestone 500th location next month.
Perhaps nothing is more international in scope than fine wine. As Pat Volchok writes
in her “Buying Smart” article on page 48, we launched our own Kirkland Signature™ private-label premium wines in 2003. As Costco’s national director of wine, Annette Alvarez-Peters,
explains, Kirkland Signature wines “embody the best of a wine region”—at a 20 percent or
better savings over similar wines.
Our Kirkland Signature wines are scheduled to arrive at staggered times throughout the
year in limited quantities. If you would like to be notified when the wines are available, visit
costco.com and enter your e-mail address in the e-mail address window on our home page.
We’ll send you our weekly e-mail notice with warehouse news and special offers from
costco.com. Rest assured that Costco never rents or shares your e-mail address with others.
As you may have noticed the last time you visited your local warehouse, the holiday
season has arrived at Costco. Before the month slips away, this is a great time to take care of
your holiday cards. Be sure to read about our quick and easy holiday greeting card program
on page 61. Just upload your favorite digital photo to costco.com, select a card design, place
your order and pick up the finished cards the next time you visit the warehouse.
See you in the warehouse this holiday season! C
Ginnie Roeglin is Senior Vice
President, E-Commerce and
Publishing, and Publisher of
The Costco Connection.
from the editor’s desk
David W. Fuller
IF YOU READ Rhonda Abrams’ column this month
(page 9) you will find an excellent example in less than
400 words of several key concepts underlying The Costco
Connection’s editorial approach.
I found this succinct piece, called “When in doubt, get
real,” to be both informative and inspirational. Rhonda,
David W. Fuller is Assistant who has built a career on counseling entrepreneurs and
Vice President, Publishing, and would-be entrepreneurs, sets out her premise (that we all
Editor of The Costco Connection. are subject to what she calls the “Fraud Factor” when we
find ourselves as the new kid on the block) and then offers
specific advice for coping with and overcoming this syndrome.
Her advice and her attitude can be summed up in a word: supportive.
This is exactly what The Connection aspires to convey in a large part of its editorial
offerings. We hope that our articles are seen as offering advice without preaching, providing assistance without insistence, being informative without being dull.
People often ask us why we go to all the trouble to include articles in this magazine
that do not specifically promote products we are selling. There are many reasons for this.
One of the most important is that we view our members/customers as people, not just
purchasers. If we can help support them in their businesses or in the business of living, if
we can help them find what they are looking for in their lives without spending an undue
amount of time or money, we should do it.
It is not a matter of altruism. It is a long-term act of faith in and respect for our members. We believe this long-term supportiveness, along with having the right merchandise at
the right prices, will lead to our members returning the favor of supporting us when the
time comes for shopping. C
