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the co-op difference

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.

Marketing Planning that Cuts Through the Clutter

By |2023-05-05T20:27:05-04:00October 10th, 2018|

Retailers face lots of challenges, profit margins are small, inventory needs to turn, and the competition is fierce. Getting customers into the store and keeping them satisfied should be everyone’s focus to boost sales and enhance profitability. Retailers faced with flat or declining sales need to take a closer look at their marketing and customer service experience. Since food co-ops are owned by the [...]

Marketing Systems Revamp Lifts Sales

By |2023-05-05T20:27:06-04:00October 10th, 2018|

Ashland Food Co-op in Ashland, OR is a successful food co-op in an artsy university town that also draws a lot of year-round tourists. The co-op is especially known for its outreach and popularity in the community. Recently, they faced a dilemma about this very thing. What should the co-op do when their dynamic and long-term marketing director retired? What could the co-op do to build on that success in a rapidly changing market?

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.

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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Measuring & Communicating the Co-op Difference

By |2023-05-05T20:06:01-04:00November 9th, 2017|

In a lot of ways our work speaks for itself.  The data supports an assertion that cooperation produces stronger happier communities, local economies, food systems and shoppers.   Bonnie Hudspeth, Neighboring Food Co-op Associations Manager of Member Programs, shares a ton of powerful data points about the impact that food co-ops have in the Northeast and points out opportunities that we can seize on to [...]

Implementing a Livable Wage in a Competitive Market

By |2023-05-05T20:28:59-04:00March 30th, 2016|

By Sarah Dahl, Lauren Olson 183 Mar-Apr 2016 Half of National Co+op Grocers member co-ops surveyed are under pressure to increase staff wages, according to a 2015 report. This pressure is not unique to co-ops. With efforts led by groups such as Fight for 15 and dialogues at local, state, and federal levels about minimum wage, there is a national spotlight on increasing wages. [...]

The Spirit of Generosity

By |2023-05-05T20:07:00-04:00May 4th, 2015|

By Bill Gessner 178 May-June 2015 The collective progress in collaboration that the food co-op sector has achieved over the past decade has been significant and inspiring. “Cooperation among cooperatives,” through the Cooperative Grocers Associations and other vehicles, is building a strong, powerful momentum. An underlying core value that has supported this collaboration, but has rarely been articulated or recognized, is a strong spirit [...]

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