'Signature' City of Kirkland Joins BLS

​The place once nicknamed “the little city that could” is powering up its economic engine on the eastern banks of Lake Washington.

The Business Licensing Service today adds Kirkland – the state’s 12th largest city by population – as a local partner. Nearly 10,000 companies do business in the city of Kirkland annually. It is consistently rated by publications, such as USA Today, as one of the country's most livable cities.

Kirkland is the original headquarters of the  Seattle Seahawks and Costco, currently number 15 in the Fortune 500. The previously little city is still the reason that "Kirkland Signature" is the Costco house brand that is well-known across the continent.

Kirkland is BLS's 83rd city partner. About one-third of all cities statewide work with BLS for local licensing. By January 2020, about half of Washington cities that license businesses locally will be BLS partners.