Costco (Nasdaq: COST) CEO Jim Sinegal announced plans to retire on Jan. 1. Although he's not leaving the company completely -- Sinegal will seek re-election to the company's board next year and will serve as an advisor until January 2013 -- Costco without Sinegal as chief exec will be a strange place indeed.

In September 2009, Sinegal came to Fool HQ and spoke to us about how Costco sizes up the competition, how it keeps its customers, and his biggest weakness, among other things. In honor of today's big announcement, we're dusting off the full video (running time: 24 minutes) for our readers. Enjoy!

If you want to learn more about Jim Sinegal, follow the links below for an expanded conversation with the CEO.