Own It

What does it mean to be an Owner of the
Willy Street Co-op?

The Own it logo was created to highlight owner suggestions that we have implemented to improve service to you and the community. You’ll see the Own it logo appearing in various places in the Reader and on our website. Click HERE or any of the logos to visit the ever growing list.

Ownership in a cooperative comes with benefits and responsibilities. As an Owner of any business, it is in your best interest to be steadily involved in the store’s growth and status. Involvement happens in a variety of ways—there are opportunities to serve on the Board of Directors and on various committees, respond to surveys, participate in the annual t-shirt design contest, and voting privileges for Board members, annual budgets, expansion proposals and other issues.

For many of us, being an Owner of the Willy Street Co-op also means that we help each other every day in little ways—bringing shopping carts in from the parking lot, bagging our own groceries in our own canvas bags, paying in cash when ever possible, answering questions for other shoppers, or lending a hand to someone less able.

In return for all this responsibility, you receive several benefits of ownership—you can save 10% over non-owners on every purchase, you can make special orders on items we don’t carry, get discounts on pre-ordered cases of merchandise, and take advantage of Owner Rewards monthly sales.

One benefit of Ownership that’s often not considered is, unlike conventional supermarkets, we listen and respond to suggestions, comments and requests. This benefit is taken very seriously and the staff works hard to meet all of our owner’s requests.

Throughout the store there are many things that are the result of several owner requests. Thanks to owner suggestions, things like the solar array on the roof, numerous products on our shelves, extra parking space for bike trailers, the ESP price reduction program, the Eastside Farmers’ Market and more have happened.

We love to hear your ideas, so go ahead and act like you Own it. Give us a call, send us an e-mail, or fill out a Customer Comment form. We will research your idea and respond to your request. We can’t promise to say “yes” to everything—certain products may not be available to us, pricing, space and safety have to be considered and the bottom line will always be to serve what is best for the Willy Street Co-op membership and store overall.

Own it and help the staff of your Co-op bring you the best store possible.