MEMBERconnection
Success on
a shoestring
Accentuate
the positive
SOMMER MEYER remembers what store she was
at and what price she paid for every single one of
her current stash of 295 pairs of shoes.
So it seemed only, um, natural, when, in 2005,
she took a Hawaii Pacific University media strategy
course and made shoes the focus of her directed-study project.
“It was just a homework assignment that got
out of control,” says Meyer of Closet Fetish (www.
closetfetish.com). Closet Fetish is a couture organizing company that sells shoe boxes (available in
six different colors) with 4-by-6-inch frames on the
outside. Customers take photos of their shoes and
slide them into the frame to easily identify the contents. The company sells about 50,000 shoe boxes
annually at $15 a pop.
It’s proven to be popular not only with celebrities and women worldwide but also with non-shoe
fanatics, who use the boxes for storing photos, art
supplies, keepsakes, DVDs and CDs. The Waipio,
Hawaii, Costco member plans to expand the line to
include more box sizes for holding hats, sweaters
and boots.—Shana McNally
A FEW YEARS AGO, Eton and
Margarette Lacon noticed that
wherever they went it seemed
that people were displaying signs
of negativity, right down to the
slogans on their T-shirts.
Sommer Meyer, shoe diva
Costco Cartoon Contest continues
Costco member Dean Elston’s entry is one of the more than 800
The Connection received in its 2008 cartoon contest. We’ll be running
additional entries throughout 2009.
Sleep
on it
Isa, a 4-month-old
golden retriever belonging to Costco members
Tom and BJ Hoover of
Jackson, California, has
apparently judged
Kirkland Signature™
Bath Tissue soft enough
to sleep on.
d
The husband and wife were
so overcome that they launched
www.wereworthit.com in June
2006. On the site and at street fairs,
the duo sells T-shirts and mugs
emblazoned with “I’M WORTH IT.”
“We believe that our society
needs to be more positive,” Eton
says. “If people have better self-
esteem they will be revitalized
and rejuvenated.”
To date, they’ve sold enough
T-shirts and mugs to give them
hope that eventually they’ll be
able to give up their day jobs as
a schoolteacher (her) and a front-
desk agent at a hotel (him).
Currently they run the busi-
ness out of their house, pick up
supplies at their local Lawrence,
New York, Costco and do what
they can to give back.
“We need to combat children’s
negative images about themselves
and to spread the message of self-
WEWANTTOHEARFROMYO U
IF YOU HAVE a note, photo or story to share (it sh ould
be about Costco or Costco members in some way) , you
can send it to “The Member Connection,” The Cos tco
Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-108 8, or
e-mail to
connection@costco.com with “The Mem ber
Connection” in the subject line. Submissions cann ot be
acknowledged or returned.
