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Costco Connection | March | Up Front | Editor's Note
EDITOR'S NOTE

Rising from the ashes

Stories from ancient mythology tell about the phoenix, an immortal bird that rose again and again and again from the ashes of its predecessor. Today, the phoenix has become a symbol of people, organizations or businesses that have faced huge odds, survived and even thrived. This is exactly the case with the Costco members featured in this issue’s cover story.

We posted a notice in a past issue asking members to contact us with their small-business phoenix stories. Our Connection email inbox filled up with stories of struggles, perseverance and ultimately survival, mostly related to the pandemic. The companies varied in nature, from athletic facilities to restaurants, from web design groups to hairstylists. Their phoenix stories shared common themes: hurried adjustments, pivoting and pinching, going to Plan B, thinking outside the box and doing whatever they could to somehow keep the lights on. There’s no manual for this.

But the strongest message was that they just weren’t going to let their small-business dreams die, period. Everybody had invested so much entrepreneurial energy in growing an idea from a seed, making it through growing pains and ultimately becoming a successful business—no easy task in any era. Another common point: Not only did they not want their own personal dreams to fail, but they also didn’t want to let down their teams.

We tip our hats to these businesses, which are the lifeblood of our economy for creating jobs, goods and more. We hope future highs make past struggles worthwhile.

Coming next month


• Read about Costco members who have completed amazing home improvement projects with our services and products.

PUBLISHER
Sandy Torrey storrey@costco.com

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Tim Talevich 425-313-6759 ttalevich@costco.com

U.S. TEAM
T. Foster Jones, 425-313-6748 tod.jones@costco.com
Will Fifield, wfifield@costco.com
Katie Coleman, katie.coleman@costco.com

INTERNATIONAL TEAM
Stephanie E. Ponder, 425-427-7134 sponder@costco.com
Christina Guerrero cguerrero2@costco.com
Dan Jones daniel.jones@costco.com

COPY EDITOR
Miriam Bulmer

CONTRIBUTORS
Linda R. Bernstein, Laura Bode, Maria Esztergalyos, Lance Frazer, Naomi Hansen, Dr. Michael Hunter, Dipesh Jain, Laura Langston, Suja Natarajan, Marc Saltzman, Ellen Schwartz, Irene Middleman Thomas

ART DIRECTOR
Lory Williams, lwilliams@costco.com

ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTORS
David Schneider, dschneider@costco.com
Brenda Shecter, bshecter@costco.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Ken Broman, Steven Lait, Megan Lees, Chris Rusnak

EDITORIAL PRODUCTION MANAGER
Antolin Matsuda amatsuda@costco.com

PRINT, PAPER AND PREPRESS MANAGER
MaryAnne Robbers mrobbers@costco.com

PUBLISHING ADVERTISING MANAGER
Kathi Tipper-Holgersen 425-313-6581 ktipper@costco.com

ASSISTANT ADVERTISING MANAGER
Susan Detlor 425-313-6916 sdetlor@costco.com

ADVERTISING COORDINATORS
Christina Bentler 425-313-2558 cbentler@costco.com
Raven Stackhouse 425-416-1632 rlstackhouse@costco.com

ADVERTISING COPYWRITER
Bill Urlevich

PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Josh Livingston

ADVERTISING GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Christina Muñoz

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
Frank Colonno 201-962-2759 fcmediapartners@optonline.net

BUSINESS MANAGER
Jane Johnson

CIRCULATION MANAGER
Rossie Cruz rcruz@costco.com

ONLINE PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Dorothy Strakele connection@costco.com

COSTCO WHOLESALE
P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088
999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA 98027

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