®
PUBLISHER Ginnie Roeglin
EDITOR David W. Fuller 425-313-8510 dfuller@costco.com
MANAGING EDITOR Anita Thompson 425-313-6442
athompson@costco.com
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
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 Jessica Jihye Han, Seoul jhhan@costcokr.com
REPORTERS
Will Fifield wfifield@costco.com
Steve Fisher Steve.Fisher@costco.com
Stephanie E. Ponder sponder@costco.com
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Dorothy Strakele 425-313-6899 connection@costco.com
COPY EDITOR Miriam Bulmer
CONTRIBUTORS
Wally Amos, Nate Fifield, David Horowitz,
Steven L. Kent, Jennifer Pirtle, Valerie Ryan, Marc Saltzman,
Lynne Meredith Schreiber, 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
ASSISTANT 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
ASSISTAN T 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
ADVERTISING SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR
Melanie Woods mwoods@costco.com
BUSINESS MANAGER Janet Burgess
CIRCULATION MANAGER Rossie Cruz 425-313-6715
rcruz@costco.com
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
D. Ted Harris 425-313-2937 dtharris@costco.com
COSTCO WHOLESALE
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999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, Washington 98027
Fax: 425-313-6718
E-mail: connection@costco.com
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The Costco Connection is published by Costco Wholesale. All editorial material, including editorial comments, opinion and statements
of fact appearing in this publication, represents the views of the
respective authors and does not necessarily carry the endorsement of Costco Wholesale or its officers. Information in The Costco
Connection is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but
the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed. The publication of any advertisements is not to be construed as an endorsement of the product or service offered unless it is specifically stated
in the ad that there is such approval or endorsement. Products
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WA 98027. Copyright © 2007 Costco Wholesale.
FRONTend
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
OUR COVER STORY this month, on page 18, features one
of my favorite people. My good friend Bill Milliken is one
of the most fascinating and downright nicest men I have
ever had the pleasure to know. I am sure he is both
amused and embarrassed by the praise. Bill founded
Communities in Schools and is a tireless advocate for at-risk youths. He’s been there himself and knows how to
keep kids on the path to success. With a third of our children dropping out of school before they graduate, we all
have our work cut out for us. Bill offers his nine principles
to keep kids in school in his new book, The Last Dropout:
Stop the Epidemic! We are pleased to offer his book in our warehouses and on costco.com.
Every enduring company has its stories—tales of successes and failures, and
ones that define and teach the mission and culture of the company. At Costco, we often
tell our “salmon story” to teach our employees about our mission to constantly improve
both the quality and value of our merchandise. You can read more about our story—and
how to develop your own company’s story—in the article on page 22.
It’s hard to believe, but the holidays are just around the corner. It always seems a bit
early with fall just arriving, but seasoned Costco members know that we have an early-in,
early-out merchandising philosophy. Don’t wait for traditional last-minute sales and
markdowns at Costco, because we sell out of our holiday merchandise long before most
other retailers.
This issue includes a What’s New Holiday Gift Guide on page 66 to help get you
started. In addition to our warehouse items, be sure to check our additional selection of
gifts on costco.com, which are delivered directly to the recipient’s door. We’re expecting
video game consoles such as Nintendo Wii, Xbox, and PlayStation to be hot again this
year. You can get up to speed on the latest games on your kids’ wish lists by reading the
articles on pages 41 and 43.
Classic and elegant shirts and sweaters are always welcome gifts for men and women.
The Connection’s consumer reporter, Pat Volchok, explains all about our line of fine
Hathaway apparel in the “Buying Smart” feature on page 64.
Happy fall days from all of us at Costco! 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
DOES IT SOMETIMES seem to you that celebrity in
America is based on all of the wrong criteria?
Take Bill Milliken, the subject of this month’s cover
story, for example. Here is a man who in the course of
more than 30 years has materially and spiritually aided
hundreds of thousands of youths at the time when they
need it most. While debate has raged on during those
decades about the need for school reform, Milliken has
been quietly going about his mission of providing kids
with the solid underpinning they need to stay and succeed
in school.
My bet is you’ve never heard of him.
But shouldn’t our celebrities be the people who selflessly work for the betterment
of their communities, who provide solutions for the most vexing social problems, who
care for the forgotten?
I know that sounds awfully naive. But we each have many opportunities every
day to register our support for the notable over the notorious. Editors of newspapers,
magazines and books and producers of films and television shows do pay attention to
what their audiences do and say. Write them, e-mail them, call the talk shows and tell
them you want to hear more about the Bill Millikens of the world, and that just might
come to pass.
Will stories about the after-hours shenanigans of teen pop stars ever be entirely
replaced by stories focused on the good deeds of tireless altruists? Not likely. But maybe
a little bit better balance can be achieved. C
David W. Fuller is Assistant
Vice President, Publishing, and
Editor of The Costco Connection.
