Notes from the General Manager
March 2020

I have to say -- I’m so in love with our new store design.  It already feels so natural and open. And all our customer and member feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

I’m so grateful for our hardworking staff who have been so patient and willing for the past few months as we’ve built to this.  The board has also been incredibly supportive, and the assistance that National Cooperative Grocers (NCG) provided was invaluable.

Things have a way of all happening at the same time.  We are so excited for the opportunities in front of us.

We are working on securing better pricing through our distributors and applying for full membership with NCG.  We’ve had some seasonal produce meetings with local growers and are ready for a great season. The deli is delving into hot foods.  We're feeling good!
 

We’ll be doing a customer survey in April to elicit feedback on all these changes and to inquire as to what we can do better.

Thank you for all your loyalty and support.

Onward.

NEW SPECIALS!

Notes from the Board Meeting
March 2020

At the board meeting on February 10th, I reported on the financial condition of the co-op for the fourth quarter of 2019.  Daily has had two rough years. 2018’s sales decline burned through any buffer we had of retained earnings, and then the drastic sales decline of 2019 led to negative net profitability.  The remodel couldn’t come at a better time.

We had good attendance from staff and members.  There was great discussion about how to handle the closing of Earth Fare.  We had good talking points for staff, and Outreach Coordinator Theo Horne developed a discount for former Earth Fare customers and staff for the last two weeks of February.

We know that this is a big loss for the Athens community, but we do also hope that people will come to see the value of a co-op that cannot be sold off by a remote private equity firm.

The next board meeting will be Monday, March 16th, at 5pm, at the Collective Harvest offices on West Broad.