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Residents of Issaquah, Washington, have much to appreciate in their city — numerous historic buildings, beautiful mountains nearby, and even an old-fashioned trolley. No doubt locals also appreciate that mega-corporations Boeing and Microsoft provide steady employment there.

Another employer that is a prime example of American ingenuity and smart marketing also calls Issaquah home. The multi-billion dollar global retailer Costco Wholesale moved its headquarters to Issaquah in 1996 and continues to expand and grow worldwide.

Costco has an interesting marketing strategy at its warehouse club stores— low prices on everyday items, but also luxury items that are placed in the stores for short periods of time. This “treasure hunt” philosophy brings shoppers back again and again for the thrill of finding incredible deals on such things as fine jewelry, designer handbags, and even barrels of whiskey.

Costco’s history shows how a small, simple idea can become big business, in this case the concept of the membership warehouse club. It began when entrepeneur Sol Price, founder of FedMart, opened Price Club inside old airplane hangers in 1976 in San Diego. It was originally intended to serve small businesses, but the company found it could achieve far greater buying clout by adding non-business members.

You could say Price tutored Jim Sinegal, one of the co-founders of Costco, in how to do the retail warehouse right. Sinegal worked for Price at FedMart, but later joined forces with Jeff Brotman to open the first Costco warehouse in Seattle in 1983. In 1993, Price Club merged with Costco. The company has continued to grow worldwide and has more than 725 locations, mostly in North America, but also in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Costco keeps costs low through a number of methods. It sells a limited number of items at high volume, which allows further reductions in price from vendors — the average Costco stocks some 4,000 items, as compared to a conventional grocery store that might carry 30,000 items.

Goods are bulk-packaged, and products are delivered on shipping pallets and the pallets are used to display items for sale on the warehouse floor. At the corporate level, Costco has no public relations department and does not buy outside advertising, also reducing its costs.

In addition, customers must pay annual membership fees to shop at Costco, which adds substantially to the company’s profits.

Through Costco’s member programs and website, members can also purchase insurance, automobiles, furniture, flooring, solar panels, and a wide variety of other goods and services. You can even order Costco coffins online.

Fun facts about Costco: It is one of the biggest pizza sellers in the United States; it is the largest U.S. importer of high-end French wines, and Costco rotisserie chickens are so popular that this prepared food has its own Facebook fan page.

Success in life comes from hard work and also guidance when needed, and Issaquah tutors are standing by to assist students of all ages in their quest for excellence.