Mighty Community Markets receives national award for Cooperative Innovation & Achievement. Read more >> NEW for 2024 Mighty Community Markets Intensives INTENSIVES Offer a deeper dive into an additional topic area. These are supplemental courses covering material not included in the Boot Camp designed for stores who are [...]
What’s the difference between an excellent board president and a so-so one? Being an effective president requires a host of proficiencies, attributes and knowledge—it’s no easy job! A mix of people skills, the talent to manage and a curiosity and willingness to develop a keen understanding of your co-op’s business are key traits of any good board president. From facilitation savvy, the ability to [...]
The General Manager Development Program works with both new and experienced general managers (GMs) to develop the core grocery management skills they need to successfully lead their co-op. The program currently offers seven modules, all of which are taught by an experienced team of grocery retail experts. Throughout this summer, we'll be introducing each of the instructors in the program. Today, we are highlighting retail grocery marketing expert Rebecca Torpie.
The Progressive Grocer Top Women in Grocery (TWIG) is a prestigious award giving industry recognition to grocery retail leadership, and this year's list includes one of Columinate's own, Rebecca Torpie. TWIG awards are granted annually to a generous number of women in a huge and diverse industry, from team leaders and store managers to senior executives. The 2022 awards were announced in June 2023.
Key Insights Round up is an extremely successful, simple way of collecting donations for partner organizations. Making the ask mandatory is the best way to ensure cashier compliance and consistency. Incentivizing cashiers and making goal achievement fun and rewarding can make a difference in buy-in and outcomes. Co-ops may want to try every other month or quarterly round ups to test shopper and cashier [...]
In her work as a Participation & Engagement consultant for cooperatives, Rebecca Torpie gets to see many successful campaigns engendering authentic relationships between co-op stakeholders. From members, to staff, to community members, the connections between these groups is so powerful, and Rebecca shares with you some of the best strategies from co-ops around the US.
Ashland Food Co-op in Ashland, OR is a successful food co-op in an artsy university town that also draws a lot of year-round tourists. The co-op is especially known for its outreach and popularity in the community. Recently, they faced a dilemma about this very thing. What should the co-op do when their dynamic and long-term marketing director retired? What could the co-op do to build on that success in a rapidly changing market?
Cooperative boards of directors are small groups of people who influence the future of the world. They are committed citizens who think and learn and work together for something that together they find relevant and compelling. Directors are practically the direct descendants of the Rochdale Pioneers. Like their “ancestors,” the goal of cooperative boards is to make their utopian way of thinking about the [...]
Systems & Structures within a cooperative are essential to creating and maintaining strong communication between co-op stakeholder groups. Rebecca Torpie shares some brief points about how these systems can better be leveraged to create and sustain meaningful engagement at your co-op.
By Gail Graham, Rebecca Torpie 180 Sept-Oct 2015 A lot has changed in Cuba since the July 2014 visit by U.S. cooperators, reported in these pages by Stuart Reid (CG#175, Nov.¬Dec. 2014). A few of us couldn’t resist jumping on a recent opportunity to explore the new Cuban cooperative initiative. So, in February 2015, we flew from Cancun to Havana with three other curious, cooperatively [...]
