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co-op culture

Food Co-ops Lead Industry in 2023 Sales of Local, Organic and Fair Trade

By |2024-04-23T18:42:38-04:00April 23rd, 2024|

Community-owned grocery stores last year led all food retailers nationwide in percentage of sales derived from local, organic and fair-trade foods and products. In fact, the average food co-op grocery store on average sources products from 169 local farms and producers. Read the details on the vast and generous impact locally-owned food co-op grocery stores have on food systems in general and their local communities in particular. The report comes from National Co+op Grocers, which represents 161 food co-ops with 1.3 million U.S. member-owners and combined annual sales of $2.5 billion.

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What We’ve Been Learning About Creative Destruction

By |2023-11-21T16:17:38-05:00October 31st, 2023|

Within our organizations, we spend much time trying to do more and add on to things, in an effort to feel like we’re making progress. We have more money, let’s hire more staff! Not enough people from the neighborhood are shopping, let’s offer a new benefit. We got in trouble for not carrying an East African staple in our grocery store, now we have so many that we are a new competitor to the East African market on the other side of town. We add, add, and add.

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A Long Road of Cooperation: Revisiting Vernon Oakes

By |2023-12-05T15:47:20-05:00October 4th, 2023|

I enjoyed interviewing Vernon Oakes and asked him a few questions about his remarkable career. Vernon, tell us a few things to help Columinate readers know you better: people and places that are most important to you. My parents, Odell Oakes Sr. and Florrie Smith Oakes, met while serving in the US Army during World War II and married in New York City, where I was born. We later moved to Bluefield, West Virginia. I attended public schools, and due to a speech impediment, I was put in a “special ed” class in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. Words and reading didn't come naturally to me, and reading still isn’t my favorite thing. But math made sense and would later help me to make sense of life and the business pursuits I had. School was tough due to the added factor of racism and integration in 1955, when I was entering the 3rd grade.

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Co-op Cafe Supports DEI Work by Weaver Street Market Board

By |2023-05-05T20:04:54-04:00September 12th, 2022|

The 2022 series kicked off in May with invigorating conversations around how the cooperative principles could advance our commitment to a more equitable future. Co-op members from across the country joined these discussions and grappled with questions such as: Do we need an 8th cooperative principle aimed at equity and inclusion?

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Cooperative Board Leadership Development: Mid-Year Report

By |2023-05-05T20:04:56-04:00August 22nd, 2022|

The Columinate Cooperative Board Leadership Development (CBLD) program provides annual board support that includes monthly consulting, facilitated board retreats, board training, and resource development. CBLD helps boards take advantage of their collective knowledge and talents, identify their annual goals, and connect with specific resources for their challenges of the moment. The program is run and staffed by industry professionals with experience and expertise in a variety of areas, and it can help to broaden the knowledge base each co-op has to draw upon to meet their goals.

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Re-Energize your Co-op Culture

By |2023-05-05T20:04:43-04:00March 21st, 2020|

There are over 40,000 co-ops operating in the USA employing almost 1 million people. Few of those employees have had any formal training on the cooperative business model. This brief “chatinar” led by Columinate consultant Adam Schwartz is designed to introduce you and your colleagues to some of the key steps organizations can take to ensure you are using your cooperative structure as a [...]

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Introducing Your Co-op to New Communities

By |2023-05-05T20:05:17-04:00July 12th, 2018|

Business introductions are a networking staple—and they run the gamut from the ho-hum ‘We are here to sell you something’ to the dynamic, ‘We love to support communities and make a difference in people’s lives.’ As co-ops continue to seek out ways to innovate, offer more goods and services, and reach out to new communities, it is worth the investment of time and resources [...]

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Cultivating a Culture of Appreciation

By |2023-05-05T20:05:43-04:00March 6th, 2018|

According to Gallup News State of the Workforce report in 2017, overall only 30% of employees feel engaged at their jobs. This dismal statistic is a strong invitation for employers in all business sectors to consider the type of work culture that might contribute to a sense of disaffection and actively work to change it. Employees who do feel a sense of connection are [...]

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Leading Our Co-ops Beyond Customer Service to Cooperative Service

By |2023-05-05T20:05:47-04:00February 2nd, 2018|

As food co-ops forge ahead in the “the new normal,” they often find themselves in the precarious place of trying to both differentiate from and conform to competitors. From the consistent progression of conventional grocery stores towards natural products offerings, to the growing threat of internet retailers, food co-ops are experiencing an increasingly urgent pressure to raise the bar on business operations while still maintaining and better communicating their distinctiveness as community-owned institutions.

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Open Book Management: Now is the Time!

By |2023-05-05T20:05:52-04:00December 28th, 2017|

By Melanie Reid Co-ops continue to face an increasingly tough marketplace. Competition for employees is as tough as it is for food dollars. One strategy for attracting and retaining talented and passionate staff members is to build a culture of strong employee engagement. Open Book Management (OBM) has the potential to contribute to higher staff satisfaction, improved engagement, increased accountability, and strong communication. Inviting staff [...]

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