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.
By Mel Braverman, Nicole Klimek, Jeanie Wells 184 May-June 2016 In the back of our minds we knew that [insert name of competitor here] was coming. It was only a matter of time before grocery chains would notice our happy piece of the natural foods pie. Co-ops are feeling squeezed, and it hurts. Increased competition may limit our profitability but may also limit our [...]
As Director of Co-op Development for NCG, Dave Olson has a unique perspective on what it'll take for co-ops to survive and thrive in this 'New Normal' of increased competition and slowing sales growth. In this must-watch video Dave drops some hard truths and possibly un-popular ideas in an effort to get co-ops to think hard about such crucial yet sensitive topics as product [...]
For the first time since chain natural food stores rose to prominence in the 1990s, natural food grocery stores have lost market share to conventional competition. The golden era of runaway growth for natural food grocers may become a thing of the past as a variety of competitors have figured out how to effectively sell and merchandise “natural.” This puts enormous pressure on both [...]
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.
In Tucson, AZ competition is ramping up and the leaders at Food Conspiracy are taking decisive action. Hear from GM Kelley Kriner about the steps that the management at Food Conspiracy took to make the Co-op a strong and sustainable force in the community.
The New Normal has hit Chico Natural Foods in California. General Manager Liza Tedesco believes the response from the food co-op sector must be accessibility. Liza share her perspective and the initial steps and questions that co-op leaders must ask themselves in order to answer the question "What are the barriers to more people shopping co-op?"
Dave Olson, of National Co+op Grocers (NCG) has a crucial message to get out to cooperators across the country. Watch as Dave unpacks a ton of data, headlines, and graphs in order to give you a clear sense of where natural foods co-ops sit in the context of the broader natural foods marketplace. It's a stark image, but one that Dave hopes will will either [...]
At Outpost Natural Foods they've achieve success by growing their co-op too reach a wider portion of the market and to create increased access to healthful foods for much of the Milwaukee area. Hear from their GM, Pam Mehnert, some valuable insights and first-hand reports about what has worked well for Outpost on their journey through growth.
