by Anya Firszt, General Manager
Grocery Workers: Vaccine Phase 1
The State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee has made their Vaccine Priority Group 1B recommendations to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) and as of press time, grocery workers and food production workers are included. Willy Street Co-op, our employees’ union, and several individual employees and customers were represented in the 1700 comments urging the committee to include our essential workers. Thank you to everyone who joined us in advocating to prioritize our workforce for COVID-19 vaccination. It has made a difference! At press time, the recommendation was being reviewed for finalization at DHS. We look forward to learning more.
Seafood Center and Co-op Part Ways
As reported on our website and social media, the Co-op and the Seafood Center are amicably parting ways on April 4, 2021. The Seafood Center has had service counters at Willy Street Co-op since 1999, when the Center opened a location inside Willy East and eventually Willy West. Since that time, the economic landscape has changed, and the businesses feel that moving on may be more sustainable for both parties.
The Co-op plans to assume seafood operations at Willy West and Willy East sometime in the spring. This move, which was mutually agreed upon by the Co-op and the Seafood Center, will create better consistency between the seafood department and the rest of the Co-op’s stores. The Seafood Center plans to keep their Whitney Way location open, which has more offerings available than space allowed at the grocery locations.
Scott Kennedy, manager-owner of the Seafood Center, said, “We’ve always enjoyed our relationship with the Co-op and look forward to our new chapter and to their continued success.”
Popular hours
Did you know that you can check our Google Business listing and see how busy each of our stores are currently and how busy they’ll likely be in the future? We want your business, but if you would like to avoid busier times, check the link below and scroll to Popular Times to help you plan when you’ll shop. (Store hours before 10:00am are reserved for seniors and those who are immunocompromised.)
• Willy East: open 8:00am-8:00pm
http://g.page/WSC-east
• Willy North: open 8:00am-9:00pm
http://g.page/WSC-north
• Willy West: open 8:00am-8:00pm
http://g.page/WSC-west
On the horizon
Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Planning
We just closed the second quarter of the current fiscal year, and this month we will begin the budgeting process for next fiscal year, Fiscal Year 2022. There continues to be great uncertainty around the economy and many unknowns about the timeline for ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Given this, our plan is to develop a conservative sales budget that reflects a year of transition for the pandemic and continued economic challenges. We will continue to look for ways to bring our expenses in line with reduced sales growth while maintaining and expanding curbside pick up and delivery options.
The FY122 budget will be submitted to the Board for approval at their June Board meeting; once approved a summary will be shared with Owners in the Reader before calendar year end.
Community Reinvestment Fund application period now open
The deadline for Community Reinvestment Fund grant applications is the end of this month. To learn more about our Community Reinvestment Fund, check out willystreet.coop/CRF for the 2021 details and grant application, as well as previous CRF recipients.
Super Bowl LV
On the lighter side of life, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs are heading to the Super Bowl. The game will be played Sunday, February 7 beginning at 5:30pm central time. We’ll have an assortment of super-duper game day and half-time snacks to get you to the final play.
Stay warm; stay well
A heartfelt thank you to those of you who continue to play by the rules, wear face coverings, and maintain social distancing while you are in the store to help others stay safe.