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FRONTend
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
WE ARE PLEASED to feature Howard Schultz, CEO of
Starbucks, on our cover this month. Starbucks is a Seattle
neighbor and long-term partner of Costco. Our two companies have grown up together and have become icons in
our respective industries.
Like many large companies, Starbucks has struggled
in recent years. After a meteoric rise and global expansion
that made Starbucks a daily stop for millions of coffee
lovers, the company found its business faltering. Schultz
returned to the helm as CEO to turn Starbucks around,
and the company now seems to be back on track. Business leaders everywhere can learn a powerful lesson from
Starbucks’ journey, as told by Schultz in his new book, Onward, and in our cover story,
starting on page 30. We congratulate Starbucks on their 40th anniversary in business.
Many of us start looking forward to the summer travel season around this time of
year. If you are planning a road trip, be sure your tires are safe, as worn-out or underinflated tires are a major cause of traffic accidents. Recommendations for tire safety are
on page 71, and if you need new tires, just visit a Costco Tire Center for replacements.
Costco Travel can help you plan a great vacation this summer with a selection of
cruises, vacation packages and savings on hotels. Our hotel-only program (page 77)
includes top locations from Hyatt and Best Western, including luxury and more
affordable options.
To help you research a destination or prepare for a trip, our book buyers have stocked
the warehouses with various travel guides, books and DVDs. You’ll find examples on
pages 48 through 50. They’ve also included a selection of beach reads and audiobooks.
Cut flowers always help to bring the outdoors in at this time of year. We offer an
inside look at Costco’s sustainable Rainforest Alliance roses on page 82. Not only are
you supporting ecosystem conservation and fair worker practices when you buy these
blooms, but you could save up to a dollar per stem on roses at Costco.
Best wishes for your Passover and Easter celebrations this month 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
THERE IS SOMETHING quintessentially American
about a comeback story.
Not that tales of resurgence are uniquely American.
They do speak to the essential human reluctance to give
in to circumstances. But American history, lore and consciousness has always relished the Andre Agassis, the Tina
Turners, the Steve Jobses and the Jerry Browns of the world.
This month we look at the great corporate comeback
story taking place at Starbucks, a company that experienced an ebullient youth and a wide-ranging adolescence,
a company now remaking itself at age 40.
What is so compelling about such a story? As he resumed the role of CEO after an
eight-year hiatus, Howard Schultz, the very personification of Starbucks, not just its CEO,
noted, “We have to find and bring the soul of our company back, find our voice.” There,
in a nutshell, is the attraction of the comeback story: the reemphasis on original motivations; the rededication to principles and practices forged in an earlier, perhaps more
innocent time, a time often remembered—rightly or wrongly—as simpler and more
emotionally fulfilling.
Sports stars can lose their way through too much adulation, entertainers through the
blinding forces of fame, corporations through sheer size and the seeming necessities of
bureaucracy. In each of these types of cases it usually takes the deepest soul searching,
often after hitting or nearing a nadir, to attempt a comeback, followed by the severest
discipline and focus to run back up the stairs of success.
I salute Howard Schultz and all the others who have shown us that the path to a
brighter future sometimes can be lit by the very people who led us to the path in the
first place. C
David W. Fuller is Assistant
Vice President, Publishing, and
Editor of The Costco Connection.
