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Since 1995, Costco has created over 1,000 Kirkland Signature items. The in-house brand was inspired by a single Forbes article and has turned into a $90B business, 1/3rd of Costco's total sales.

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Today, we will talk about Kirkland Signature…the private-label beast doing $90B a year for Costco.

Also this week: 

• Boston Dynamics’s Most Practical Robot
• Wild IMAX Tech In Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
• …and them wild posts (including World Cup of course)

PS. This is again a longer newsletter with a lot of memes, images and links. I've included the intro on Kirkland Signature piece and some memes in the e-mail but read the whole thing here. 

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Costco’s Kirkland Signature hit an absurd $90B in 2025.

Launched in 1995, the retailer’s private label brand now has higher annual sales than:

• Boeing ($89B)
• FedEx ($88B)
• T-Mobile ($88B)
• P&G ($84B)
• Wells Fargo ($80B)
• My Facebook Marketplace Page for Used Air Jordan (only $118, mostly because I take awful photos)

Wow, cool airplane or global logistics network you have there…how many golf balls or scented Flextech™ garbage bags do you sell?

Costco’s latest Kirkland hit has been its canned Sparkline Energy Drink™…which looks A LOT LIKE CELSIUS!!!

Costco now sells both products…and, obviously, it did under-price-maxxing with its Kirkland option.

A 24-pack of Kirkland’s caffeine bomb (200mg!!) is $16.99 while the comparable Celsius product is priced at $37.99.

Almost assuredly while gritting their teeth, Celsius responded to the Kirkland news by saying that Costco remained a “valued customer” and its “value-priced private-label launch can get trial, but it is too early to conclude that the trial becomes durable switching in a highly brand-led energy category.”

The stock market wasn’t so sure. in March, Celsius declined by over 13% in the week after Costco dropped Sparkline Energy Drink™.

For decades, Costco has been pitting its in-house Kirkland option with a leading national brand. Costco is so damn big — and its customers so damn loyal — that the national brands will still bend over backwards to get into the warehouse.

Kirkland Signature keeps increasing products under its umbrella and has grown to 1/3 of the wholesaler’s $275B total revenue. But as with everything in life, there are limits to growth and we will find out if Kirkland Signature is nearing its ceiling.

Let’s discuss:

• Kirkland Signature’s Origin Story
• Jim Sinegal and One Forbes Article
• The 1% Better Rule
• Kirkland Signature Wins & Losses
• How Big Can Kirkland Signature Get?

Smash that blue button to read the deep dive. 

A Few Memes To Wet Your Beak

Written by me, Trung Phan.

Workweek Media Inc. 
1023 Springdale Road, STE 9E
Austin, TX 78721

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