PUBLISHER Ginnie Roeglin groeglin@costco.com
EDITOR David W. Fuller 425-313-8510 dfuller@costco.com
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Anita Thompson 425-313-6442
athompson@costco.com

MANAGING EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR MAGAZINES INTERNATIONAL

T. Foster Jones 425-313-6748 Tim Talevich 425-313-6759 Tod.Jones@costco.com ttalevich@costco.com

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Lorelle Gilpin, Ottawa 613-221-2009 Lorelle.Gilpin@costco.com
Sue Knowles, London 011-44-1923-213113 sknowles@costco.co.uk
Sungwon Pae, Seoul 82-2-2630-2700 swpae@costcokr.com
SENIOR EDITOR

Stephanie E. Ponder, Seattle sponder@costco.com ONLINE EDITOR

David Wight David. Wight@costco.com REPORTERS

Will Fifield wfifield@costco.com
Steve Fisher Steve.Fisher@costco.com

COPY EDITOR Miriam Bulmer CONTRIBUTORS

Mark E. Battersby, Teri Cettina, David Chalk, Rita Colorito,
David J. Dee, Paul and Sarah Edwards, Maria Bellos Fisher,
Wendy Helfenbaum, Susan Hirshorn, David Horowitz,
Debra Kavalos-Delaney, Judi Ketteler, Shana McNally, Linda Melone,
Nancy Mills, Bryan Reesman, Matthew Robb, Marc Saltzman,
Tracy Schneider, Fran R. Schumer

ART DIRECTOR

Doris Winters dwinters@costco.com

ASSOCIA TE ART DIRECTOR

Lory Williams lwilliams@costco.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Ken Broman, Bill Carlson, Susan Detlor, Steven Lait,
Chris Rusnak, David Schneider, Brenda Shecter
PRODUCTION MANAGER

Pam Sather, Seattle psather@costco.com ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER Antolin Matsuda amatsuda@costco.com

COLOR SPECIALIST 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 COORDINATOR

Melanie Woods 425-313-2558 mwoods@costco.com
SENIOR ADVERTISING PROJECT COORDINATOR
Steve Trump strump@costco.com
ADVERTISING / PROMOTION COPYWRITER

Bill Urlevich

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

West: John McCarthy 805-870-4437 johnmccarthy1@sbcglobal.net
Texas: Nuala Berrells 214-660-9713 nuala@sbcglobal.net
Northeast: Frank Colonno 201-962-2759
fcmediapartners@optonline.net
Midwest: Cheryl Solomon 847-749-4875
csolomon@solomonspacesales.com
Southeast: Carl Mischka 252-626-8199 CarlMischka@aol.com
BUSINESS MANAGER

Janet Burgess

CIRCULATION MANAGER
Rossie Cruz 425-313-6715 rcruz@costco.com
CIRCULATION / EDITORIAL ASSISTAN T
Dorothy Strakele 425-313-6899 connection@costco.com
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

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

Email: connection@costco.com

For information on warehouse hours and more: 1-800-774-2678 or visit Costco.com

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 advertised may not be available at all locations at the time of publication. Publishing offices are located at 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA 98027. Copyright © 2012 Costco Wholesale.

; FRONTend from the publisher’s desk

Ginnie Roeglin

IF YOU HAVE visited different Costco locations while traveling, you’ve probably noticed that different items are carried in different warehouses across the country. While Costco is a global company, with 613 warehouses in eight countries, we like to buy locally when possible to support our communities and match local tastes and preferences.

Local, boutique and artisan items also create excitement for our members. And we like to test items in various markets to gauge our members’ response before we roll them out to an entire region or even the entire company. You can read about some of our current, wonderful local suppliers from each U.S. region in our cover story, beginning on page 23.

You’ll find lots of holiday gift suggestions in this issue. Starting on page 50, we offer instant savings on a variety of electronic items such as TVs, Blu-ray players, sound systems, a streaming player, cameras and wall mounts. Costco.com also offers installation services, including for tabletop and wall-mounted TVs. Many books and movies are suggested in our Arts & Entertainment section, beginning on page 39, including one of my favorites, The Paris Wife. You’ll also find items available on Costco.com, starting after page 69. Gift cards are always a great stocking stuffer or gift for hard-to-buy-for individuals. Costco typically offers a discount of 20 percent off the face value of gift cards for tourist attractions, restaurants, spas, movie theaters, ski resorts, golf courses and more. You can read about the gift cards available in our warehouses and on our website on page 77.

Most notably for this month, at a time that usually brings holiday joy, our hearts turn to the millions of Americans who suffered immeasurably from the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Sandy last month. We thank the many Costco members and our suppliers throughout the country who have donated their time, money and products to help storm victims, and send wishes for a speedy recovery.

To all our members, we wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! C

Ginnie Roeglin is Senior Vice President, E-Commerce and Publishing, and Publisher of The Costco Connection.

from the editor’s desk

NOVEMBER 2012 The Costco Connection 5

I WOULD LIKE to set the record straight.

My November column was not simply about politics, although I certainly might have made that clearer. It was intended to be about the difference between fact and non-fact. The difference between truth and untruth. And the fact that in today’s ocean of information it has become difficult to tell fiction from nonfiction.

The necessity of making that distinction confronts
us many, many times every day. Someone comes to the
door soliciting funds for a charity. Is he or she telling the
truth? We read a review of a restaurant. Is it valid, or did
some foe of the restaurateur write it? Those advertising claims for “biggest,” “best,”
“first”—are they verifiable? And, yes, what about the claims made by politicians?

Having tools at our disposal to critically and honestly analyze what we read and hear in print, on the airwaves and on screens large and small is a goal I hope we can all agree upon. The article that prompted my column last month (“Won’t be fooled again”) listed a few fact-checking organizations the writer considered to be reliable. Clearly, they are deemed considerably less than reliable by several readers who wrote us. Fact-checking organizations we can all trust seem to be in short supply.

So where does that leave us? In search of insight, I telephoned a friend, Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. “Different people will have different sources they trust more than others,” he noted. “The point is, we must be critical consumers of news, and while it is fine to have different opinions, we need to move forward on a foundation of facts. The growing movement of fact-checking in journalism today is still evolving, but it is an attempt to help all of us know what of what we encounter has been vetted, verified or debunked.