Jeffrey Brotman

Jeffrey Brotman is the Seattle retail entrepreneur who co-founded Costco with Jim Sinegal in Costco. After the Brotman family was rejected for a Seattle Price Club franchise, Brotman connected with Sinegal and raised the capital for the first Costco warehouses.

The episode treats Brotman as the local retail and financing partner who helped turn Sinegal’s Price Club learning into a new company. Costco’s first stores in Seattle, Portland, Utah, Northern California, and British Columbia show that the model could travel beyond its Southern California origin.

Connections

• Costco, Jim Sinegal, Price Club, and PriceCostco - founding and merger context.
• Warehouse Club Model and Membership Retail - model Brotman helped launch in Seattle.