by Rose Paul, Board President
Well folks, we did it! Together we did this! We bought Plainfield Hardware on August 7. It took many people working co-operatively—the very definition of a co-op—to make this happen. Congratulations to us!
I’ll talk about what’s ahead, but first I’d like to reflect and thank some people.
Gratitude
Let’s start with fundraising, a huge effort that helped make this possible. We were so fortunate to have three experienced fundraisers leading a group of 14 brave volunteers. Emily Boedecker, Andy Robinson and Lauren Geiger organized us, trained us, and kept our enthusiasm high. A big thank you to Emily, Andy and Lauren. In particular, Andy was tireless, he gave a lot of his personal time, and he raised a lot of money for the Co-op. I’m very grateful to Andy, and to everyone who contributed to our capital campaign. Together we raised $490,000 (to date) from over 100 people. The capital campaign isn’t over; our goal is to raise $575,000 by the end of the year, so $85,000 left to go!
Board members. It took ten board members slogging through a lot of meetings over a 3-year time period to accomplish this big goal. The Board held monthly meetings and quite a few special meetings to discuss real estate matters and personnel matters. The pathway to transitioning our location started with changing the bylaws on voting. We changed from a consensus, in-person voting method to allowing people to vote over a period of time, and ensuring an informed electorate by holding information meetings ahead of time. Our real estate vote last August had 190 members-in-good-standing vote, with 82% of them (156 people) voting for the move if it was deemed feasible, and 18% (34 people) voting against it. That was a robust majority in favor.
Together, we did it!
Plainfield Co-op relocation and expansion project 2024
August 7, 2024: The day we purchased Plainfield Hardware.
Photo courtesy of H. Brewster, VT Dept. Economic Development
We wrote a USDA grant for funding to assess the financial feasibility of four options for the Co-op’s future. Here I want to thank Mary Niebling who took the lead on imagining how to frame this grant application, and who wrote the grant. We were awarded $29,000 and with those funds we were able to hire financial experts and a team of architects to envision four scenarios and what each would cost. A big thank you to Co-op members who participated in three advisory committees: a design committee, a finance committee, and a readiness committee. And a big thank you to our fiscal sponsor for the grant, the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission. The result of six months of study was that the only option that had financial feasibility was to purchase and move to Plainfield Hardware, and here we are!
I’ll add that we have a beautiful set of conceptual plans for how to expand the Co-op building and provide better access to the second floor, and these are available for some future group that may want to renovate and expand the building. Just this year, we heard from a very unhappy Co-op member about the lack of true accessibility to the second floor of the Co-op building, causing us to consult disability rights organizations to understand our responsibility and our legal liability concerning holding classes and events on the second floor. It looks like we are compliant with the law for now, but being in compliance is a weak second to actually providing acceptable access.
I also want to thank Gaye and Rich Christiansen who believed that the Co-op was the best next owner of the successful and much-loved business that they had built. They approached the Co-op Board before the property was on the market to let us know they were selling, and that they’d like to work with us. Rich and Gaye are long-time Co-op members and they are committed to advising us in the first weeks of running the new store to help us get off to a good start. The other very important folks who believed in us are our lenders: the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, the Vermont Economic Development Authority, and the Vermont Community Foundation. Together they looked at our ten-year projections for sales and cash flow at the new store, and they decided that we had very good prospects for becoming a thriving business. Together they required us to raise at least $500,000 from our community. Well, we didn’t quite make the $500,000 but VCF helped us with a bridge loan to get us to $500k. Another important financial partner is our nonprofit fiscal sponsor, the Cooperative Development Institute. Folks who donate to the Co-op and who want to use the donation for tax purposes can donate to a fund set up for the Co-op at CDI. We’re grateful for their partnership in a true cooperative spirit.
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What’s been happening?
So let’s look ahead. I’m sure you’ve been in both stores and right now, they don’t look too different than before. Our transition to the new store is going to be gradual and thoughtful. In the first weeks of our ownership, our focus has been on things that you can’t see: putting new business systems in place. We’ve switched our payroll provider to a local firm instead of a faceless, cloud-based company. We’re migrating the Point-of-Sale system (POS, the software that runs the cash registers) to a much more modern one than the Co-op has been using. We had to procure a new insurance policy to cover both stores. And we’re setting up vendor accounts and service provider accounts. Believe me, our treasurer John Cleary and I signed a lot of account applications in the past month!
Why can’t I use my member number at the Hardware Store?
Our POS at the Hardware Store is new. Our POS system at the Main Street store is so old it runs on DOS. We are migrating all sales to the new system, but the one drawback is that it doesn’t have a module for tracking member numbers and sales. We have an expert working on how to do this in an efficient way and hope to have a solution soon.
Who’s in charge?
This is a vital part of our transition. I’d like to introduce our Interim Operations Manager, James Morrell, who is leading the Board and staff in this transition. James is a consultant with deep co-op grocery experience. He lives in Burlington, he has been advising us for several months, and he is now in an interim operations management position. All staff from both stores are reporting to James. In case you didn’t know, the Co-op hasn’t had a manager since March, and before that our management was inadequate for several years.
The Board is in a process to hire a new general manager. There is a hiring committee of three Board members and one Co-op member. We have a lot of applicants and several viable candidates. Our Co-op needs capable, experienced leadership from a general manager—this is something I heard repeatedly as I met with donors and lenders. Our members have seen the lack of a strong manager, and this has led to uneven customer service, a drastic drop in our profit margin, and a lack of inventory on our shelves. James Morrell is helping to turn that around, and a new general manager will be tasked with ensuring that our staff continue to be friendly and responsive to customers, and that we meet or exceed our financial targets that are laid out in our ten-year projections. This isn’t a pipe dream, it is entirely within our capability.
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What’s ahead?
Next phase of the transition—we have restocked the Main Street Co-op store for an interim period; James Morrell is re-training both staffs in new or different procedures and systems, and easing the two groups into a merger of staff members. He is creating a new layout for grocery in an expanded space at Plainfield Hardware and stocking up this store with an expanded selection of both organic and clean conventional foods. We’re exploring a relationship with a new grocery wholesaler who serves mid-size co-ops and supermarkets. We’re aiming to achieve a volume discount with our suppliers that will hopefully show up as lower prices on the shelves. We’ve got some new produce coolers on order so we can offer more fresh and local produce at the Route 2 store. Staff jumped on a great deal and acquired store shelving at a pittance of the cost from the Big Lots store that closed in Berlin.
We have some weeks ahead as we slowly, deliberately move all the pieces into place. We’re not promising any particular outcome at any particular time because we don’t want to disappoint if we don’t make our deadlines. Instead, we hope you are pleasantly surprised as each change takes place.
A key ingredient in all this is you, our members and customers. Many of you have made an investment in this move through your donations and loans. All of our members have made an equity investment in the Co-op. For this new store to be successful, we need you to come back as shoppers, because the numbers don’t lie—we know you’ve gotten discouraged and you’re shopping elsewhere. We’re going to have a suggestion box near the register at the new store and please, tell us what you think! At this new location, we have the opportunity to once again prosper by serving our community and fulfilling our mission and our Cooperative Ends. Please help to make this happen!
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Board Members
- Rose Paul, President
- Anne Van Couvering, Vice President
- John Cleary, Treasurer
- Claire Dumas
- Jan Waterman
- Andy Robinson
Contact: board@plainfieldcoop.com
More information at: https://plainfieldcoop.com/board-of-directors/