FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER

Dear Co-op Customers,

Our Member Rewards program was started in March 2016. We offered 50-75 items at an everyday discount to all co-op owners. The program served two purposes:
1. Lower prices for coop owners
2. An incentive for prospective owners

The last 24 months we have lowered prices and we’re confident our prices are competitively priced, for all customers. Our goal is to make our food accessible to everyone in our community, not only our owners.

We’re also slowly moving away from discounts being the focus of ownership. We hope that all owners understand the true value of being a coop owner. We prefer to using the word Owner instead of Member, as member could be anything from a gym membership to a Costco membership, which do not embody the intrinsic value of coop ownership. Co-op owners are truly owners of our store, as we do not have a sole proprietor.

We will focus on monthly sales and specials, please be sure to keep an eye out for great deals each month in our grocery department. We have Everyday Deals in our Health & Beauty department, these are ongoing discounts for all shoppers.

Remember, we do offer a senior discount to our owners, every Sunday and of course, ODD (Owner Discount Day) is the second Friday of each month.

Thank you for your continued support of your coop! We hope this information helps you to understand the changes we make. Please know that much care, thought, and research goes in to every decision we make. We appreciate your feedback and like to hear from our customers.

Please contact me directly should you have any questions or comments.

Regina 
regina@placervillecoop.org

FROM THE BOARD

It takes a village 

The saying “it takes a village to raise a child” is attributed to an African proverb which says regardless of a child's biological parent(s) its upbringing belongs to the community. The same is true for a natural food coop - its upbringing belongs to the community. It is not easy to compete against regional and national grocery chains and offer higher quality food. It takes a community that wants to support the rewards of better food choices to prosper. 

In our ends statement we talk about providing “access to high quality, reasonably priced food with an emphasis on local, organic, minimally processed, and ethically produced goods.” That is very different from the lowest cost foods. As a community, we have to value the efforts being made to offer such a high standard of organic foods and show our support by shopping regularly at our Co op.

It also goes beyond shopping. It is about being an owner and what it means to be part owner in your local food Co op. Owners have a voice that is heard. Owners have the rights to vote. Owners can make a difference by voting with their purchases and making their community stronger. So please vote louder and shop regularly at your local food Co op. 

Yours in cooperation,

Lance Binley

President