GM Report
Anya Firszt
General Manager

To Expand or not to Expand?
It is not a decision any one member can make for the Co-op. To open a second site located in the Monroe Street neighborhood and an off-site kitchen facility is a decision for the membership to make. On July 5th, a ballot will be sent to you for you to cast your support of the opening of a second store and off-site kitchen facility or not.

On June 15th, the Co-op hosted a membership informational meeting where about 50 people, including staff, board and members, attended. The meeting was originally scheduled to be a general question and answer session about expansion opportunities being considered by the Co-op, but given new developments, the attendees had opportunity to ask questions about a potential second site located in the Monroe Street neighborhood.

During June, several meetings were held. During the first meeting, the Co-op presented a proposal to the new owners of the old Ken Kopp’s site, the Neighborhood Partners, for their consideration. The next meeting was a follow-up meeting to more clearly outline the contingencies included in the proposal of a tenant-landlord relationship. And, there was a third meeting to further discuss the potential of WSGC locating a store in the Monroe Street neighborhood.

Over the last eighteen months we have been informing you about how the ad hoc Opportunity Committee has been exploring what our future options could be. The extensive discussions and information-gathering at the committee level has enabled me to evaluate the unexpected opportunity to develop the Ken Kopp’s site into retail cooperative.

The timeline for our making a decision is tight by Co-op standards, yet this is a potential development site that the majority of management and staff, Board of Directors, and the Opportunity Committee members realize must be taken seriously. Our previous review of a number of alternative sites clearly indicates that this site has the strongest potential for success.

The basic question facing the membership is: should we have more than one store in the greater Madison area? The fact is we have a good thing, and expanding to a second site may jeopardize that and involves some risk. I realize that some members are averse to taking risks. That was made evident when we relocated from across the street to our current site. I believe that the risk of expanding was worth it then, and now.

This is a critical time of decision for this Co-op—the opportunity to locate a store on Monroe Street requires us to give a yes or no answer of our interest in the site to the developers. It also requires that the site plan is suited to our needs, the City gives the necessary approvals, and the funding sources including membership, bank, and cash reserves will be sufficient to cover the expenses of the project.

Our cooperative community has grown beyond the boundaries of the Yahara River and State Capitol. We have members in all of Dane County and southern Wisconsin. I strongly believe it is our responsibility to serve all of our members and, by locating a store in another neighborhood within Madison, we will be able to expand both the cooperative model and access to natural and organic foods. Our membership continues to grow at a rate that requires us to seriously consider a second site in order to allow us to serve our members as well as they have grown to expect.

The Co-op will be sending out a ballot and four-page summary of the benefits, costs and risks involved in our expansion to Monroe Street with the development of an off-site kitchen. I hope that after reading the ballot material, you will decide to support the concept of opening a second store and the off site kitchen that would support both the current and the second site. This is an investment in our Co-op that needs to be made in order to continue our record of success in providing goods and services to our members while continuing to run a financially sound grocery co-op.

Consumer Cooperative
Management Association (CCMA)
The 48th annual CCMA conference was held in Minneapolis the weekend of June 12th. The conference attracted 500 attendees from across the country. WSGC sent 14 representatives from our store, and we also sponsored three members from other retail co-ops in Madison to attend the event. WSGC Board members Ann Waterhouse and Buck Rhyme were presenters/speakers at the conference.