Buzz
Step into almost any superstore (or even a standard store), and you'll likely spot various store-specific brands. Walmart, for example, offers Great Value for groceries and Equate for personal care items, among several other private labels across different categories. Costco, however, is a bit different—it has just one: Kirkland Signature. From allergy medication to golf balls, the Kirkland Signature label is everywhere in Costco's physical locations, and many devoted shoppers have become loyal to products carrying the Kirkland Signature name.
Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal decided to dive into the private label market during the 1990s. He was inspired after discovering that nearly half of the products in UK supermarkets were private labels. Unlike Walmart and other stores that spread their efforts across multiple brands, he wanted Costco to be defined by one singular brand—and he originally intended to call it Seattle Signature.
Sinegal had initially made his mark in the wholesale industry as the executive vice president at Price Club, which was headquartered in San Diego, California. He made the decision to move his growing business to Seattle to avoid direct competition with his former employer.
"Although I consider myself a Californian and we hired many individuals from California, there was such a strong community here, and we were determined to remain in Washington," Sinegal shared with the Kirkland Reporter.
The private label was designed as a subtle reference to Costco’s origins. However, as Reader’s Digest reports, "Seattle’s Signature" failed to receive approval, prompting Sinegal to choose "Kirkland’s Signature" instead. This was another tribute to Costco’s history: Kirkland, a small city just northeast of Seattle, was where Sinegal launched the eighth Costco warehouse, and soon after, he moved the corporate headquarters there as well.
As far as we know, the respected entrepreneur was comfortable with the name change. What he didn’t accept was the suggestion to increase the price of the famous $1.50 hot dog and soda combo: When Costco president W. Craig Jelinek proposed it, Sinegal threatened to kill him.
