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startups

Providing Management Leadership When Help is Needed: Supporting store startups and turnarounds

By |2023-08-15T17:40:57-04:00August 15th, 2023|

Columinate's Manager on Contract and Interim General Manager services can be a game-changer for food co-ops and community-focused independent grocery retailers. In this report and in following weeks, we will highlight Columinate consultants working as managers on contract. After an introduction, here we highlight Wynston Estis and her work at Ocean Beach People's Organic Food Market in San Diego.

Providing Management Leadership When Help is Needed: Supporting store startups and turnarounds

By |2023-08-02T19:46:29-04:00August 2nd, 2023|

Columinate's Manager on Contract and Interim General Manager services can be a game-changer for food co-ops and community-focused independent grocery retailers. In this report and in following weeks, we will highlight Columinate consultants working as managers on contract. Featured here, following our summary of these programs, is Garland McQueen at Lovettsville Cooperative Market, which is planning to open in late August 2023.

Welcome! Lisa Malmarowski and Pam Mehnert, Flying Squirrel Milwaukee LLC

By |2023-06-27T14:59:57-04:00June 27th, 2023|

Sometimes the road to Columinate is a direct line, and sometimes it’s a leisurely path with many twists and turns. For Lisa Malmarowski and Pam Mehnert of Flying Squirrel Milwaukee LLC, joining Columinate has been a logical extension of the work each of them has been doing at Outpost Natural Foods in Milwaukee. They have been sharing their skills with fellow cooperators for years, putting into practice the cooperative principles of education and cooperation among cooperatives.

Jeanie Wells’ Mighty Community Markets Wins Innovation and Achievement Award

By |2023-06-19T17:47:05-04:00June 19th, 2023|

Independent grocers and co-ops face formidable challenges to survival, from WalMart to dollar stores, while often lacking the resources they need. Columinate's Jeanie Wells is providing these retail operations with essential skills and tools. At the June 2023 CCMA conference, Wells' Mighty Community Markets (MCM) training program was held up to its national audience as an outstanding example of cooperative innovation and achievement. (Go [...]

Introducing Tamah Yisrael: A Community Connector

By |2023-05-17T18:25:56-04:00May 17th, 2023|

Tamah Yisrael, an energizing and experienced new member of the Columinate team, connects and organizes the community. Thanks to her work as a co-op board member, start-up co-op leader, comptroller, chief financial officer, loan officer, musician, and education/outreach coordinator, Yisrael is invested in figuring out new solutions to old problems from within her community. “The ultimate work is power shifting. What is the path towards shifting power—does it look like cooperatives, does it look like strategies that include cooperative values and principles? I’m happy to offer part of the solution,” says Yisrael.

Introducing L. A. (Ahzjah) Simons: Diversifying the Co-op Ecosystem

By |2023-06-21T14:49:18-04:00May 16th, 2023|

I was born to Jamaican parents in Hartford, Connecticut, and later migrated south with a company (the food retail group Ahold), landing in Ellenwood, Georgia. I was working as a commercial property accountant. My husband and I met in Connecticut during our music days as writers, performers, producers, and recording artists on the reggae scene. After our first son was born, we continued to produce and record music, literally changing diapers between recording tracks. Creating music is still a love for hubby and me, but now, creating in our home studio, it's more of a solace for me and personal therapy for both of us. We've also included cooking in our therapy toolkit. After almost forty years together, each moment is precious, and we're making the moments count. My dad has passed on, but my mom is about an hour away and loving life. Our sons are both young adults now and are amazing human beings. And I love to write; I'd love to publish a couple books one day.

Columinate Supports Ohio Startup Gem City Market

By |2023-05-05T20:04:54-04:00September 29th, 2019|

Consultants bring innovation, passion to the groundbreaking project (from Left) Corrine Saunders, Kenya Baker, Lela Klein, Wynston Estis and Amaha Sellassie participate in the Gem City Market ceremonial groundbreaking. Dayton, OH September 30, 2019: A groundbreaking engagement is underway between Columinate consultants and Gem City Market in Dayton, OH. The consulting cooperative is providing managers-on-contract to support a 2020 store [...]

Weavers Way-Ambler Startup Merger Spurs Co-op Momentum

By |2023-05-05T20:05:18-04:00July 12th, 2018|

When the only grocery store in Ambler, Pennsylvania closed, it galvanized the town of 6,500 people into action. Rather than recreate the former grocery store’s approach to conventional retailing, though, they explored launching a food co-op that would focus on a variety of products, including natural and organic.

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