Costco's Unorthodox Strategy To Survive The Big Box Apocalypse

Wikimedia CommonsBig box stores are dying.

JCPenney, Sears, Best Buy, and more are shuttering stores and recasting their strategies.

“They were hit by a perfect storm of competition from the Internet and supermarkets,” Steve Brazier, CEO of market research firm Canalys, said in a report last year.

Even mighty Walmart, once indispensable, recently admitted that sales were suffering.

Yet Costco has remained strong throughout the recession. The company has continued to grow and see sales increase.

Costco's founder Jim Sinegal credits the company's unusual business strategy with its success.

Sinegal, whose company has been called the "anti-Walmart," invests in employees and limits the items he sells.