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Grow Your Business

Governance Considerations in Multi-Store Co-ops

By |2023-05-05T20:28:42-04:00May 4th, 2016|

We’re in a position not unlike the years after WWII when the small grocery cooperatives began to fold in the wake of full service supermarkets with vast parking lots. Jerry Voorhis, former president of The Cooperative League (now NCBA CLUSA), made these poignant remarks about the lessons learned from that time: 1. No cooperative business or institution ever stands still, it grows, expands, develops—or [...]

Planning a Member/Owner Capital Campaign

By |2023-05-05T20:29:11-04:00February 11th, 2016|

Capital campaigns can be a very important part of an expansion project - serving as a healthy test of member support.  Will your members be willing to make a sizable at-risk investment because they believe in the co-op, its leadership and the benefits of the proposed expansion? Offering investment opportunities is also another benefit you can offer to your members. The planning phase of [...]

Mergers and Acquisitions

By |2023-05-05T20:06:14-04:00November 16th, 2015|

Martha Whitman tells the story of La Montanitas experience with growth through acquiring stores in new markets.  Watch and learn about the leadership of the board of directors as they engaged their membership throughout the process.

Board’s Role in Expansion Projects

By |2023-05-05T20:06:46-04:00July 2nd, 2015|

No matter what kind of expansion your co-op wants to do, there are always hurdles to be overcome.  Everyone has them, although some projects come with a unique set of challenges.  The Hendersonville Community Co-op in Hendersonville, North Carolina has had numerous locations and expansions in its 30+ year history, but their latest expansion going from 3,800 to 8,000 square feet, required a re-working [...]

Staffing for a natural products store expansion

By |2023-05-05T20:06:51-04:00June 15th, 2015|

Your new store will have a bigger deli, more parking and a better floor plan. But will it have the staffing to support bigger and better operations? You will have a strong staffing plan to match your expansion plan if you remember a few key guidelines: First and most importantly, everyone has to be clear on where the organization is going and why, in [...]

People’s Expands: A Tale of Two Co-ops

By |2023-05-05T20:30:04-04:00May 19th, 2014|

Michelle Schry, General Manager People's Food Cooperative, LaCrosse, WI & Rochester, MN   Learn about the process, the challenges, and the triumphs of the unique "merger" that took place in Rochester. Michelle Schry, GM, tells about the engagement, the participation, and the support that poured from BOTH communities.

Expanding to a Multi-Store Co-op: Build capacity from the inside out

By |2023-05-05T20:30:26-04:00March 30th, 2014|

By Jeanie Wells 171 March-April 2014 Your market study promises great sales. Developers are wooing you into their properties. Staff and shoppers are clamoring for more space. Adding a second store seems like a piece of cake, right? Not quite. Ask any leader of a food co-op that has made the leap from single to multi-store operations, and you will inevitably hear tales of [...]

Wheatsville’s BIG Direction: Making the Ends Real

By |2023-05-05T20:07:38-04:00May 3rd, 2013|

By Dan Gillotte, Rose Marie Klee 166 May-June 2013 In Austin, Texas, Wheatsville Co-op is taking a BIG Direction: "Business Is Good." Wheatsville's BIG Direction is the general manager's interpretation of our Ends -policies, which act as a powerful, multi-faceted expression of our strategic plan. The Wheatsville Ends policies are as follows: Wheatsville will be at the forefront of a transformed society that has: [...]

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