Cooperative Gratitude in October

By John Tashiro, General Manager

Hello everyone and happy official fall!  What a breathtaking time of year as we witness the vibrant colors of the changing foliage and landscape unfolding before our very eyes!

October is National Cooperative Month, which causes us to pause and reflect on the many ways cooperatives help to build stronger communities and more resilient local economies. Since 1930 cooperatives have celebrated the benefits of being member-owned and governed, rooted in principles such as community, voluntary and open membership, economic participation, and cooperation, to ultimately serve the needs of the community. Today, we have more than 30,000 cooperative organizations and businesses in this country where 1 out of every 3 people is a member and the collective annual revenue exceeds $514 billion. Globally, research shows approximately 1 billion people are members of at least one cooperative and that the revenues of the top three hundred cooperatives reached $2.2 trillion, which if they were a country, would make them the seventh largest!

Interestingly, we interact with various cooperatives on a daily basis, but often may not recognize it.  Cooperatives come in all different forms with those owned and managed by the people who use their services (consumer co-ops) such as credit unions, housing trusts, utilities and grocery stores; by the people who help produce their products (producer co-ops) such as Cabot Creamery and Organic Valley; by the people who work there (worker co-ops) such as Equal Exchange and Seeds for Change; and by businesses who pool their resources and use their purchasing power (retail co-ops) such as Ace Hardware and True Value.

Membership in a food cooperative, like City Market, has many benefits. We invest in our staff, our local food system, sustainable business practices and our community. We remain focused on supporting organic, local and sustainable food systems as well as offering products for every budget and diet. We invest in our staff and our greater community in order to strengthen our local economy. Our Members volunteer in the community through our Community Outreach Partners program and earn discounts at the Co-op. We offer a Patronage Refund based on annual sales to Members (this year’s checks will be mailed early next month!). We also offer many amazing classes that are often free of charge for Members! For these reasons and many more, co-ops make a difference in our community.

Our Members also elect our Board of Directors, which ensures that City Market has policies that meet the needs of our Members and our community and will lead us into the future. Shareholding Members should have recently received a 2016 Board of Directors’ Elections flyer in the mail with information on our candidates and how to vote. You can also find this information on the Elections page of our website. Please remember to vote by October 21^st and thank you for participating in Co-op governance!

Your Co-op is also growing! We are making good progress with our South End store plans. We presented to the Development Review Board (DRB) for a second time on September 20^th to address some specific questions as part of the City’s permitting process. The DRB voted during their September 26^th deliberative session to allow our South End project to move forward with permitting and we hope to break ground in November. We also continue to work on plans for the Old North End and will be reviewing information with the Co-op’s Board of Directors later this month.

As always, thank you all for your ongoing support as we continue to make every effort to listen and serve you, our Members and the greater community.  Looking forward to seeing you at the Co-op, especially on Halloween later this month. Watch out for our annual staff costume competition and come in for tricks and treats!