Update on our WRJ Store
added 07/26/10
by Terry Appleby
Co-op General Manager
The Co-op’s newest store, in White River Junction, opened its doors to customers for the first time on June 23rd. Initial reviews were very positive and sales have exceeded initial projections from the beginning.
We know from experience that the store will begin to change as soon as the first member makes the first suggestion and shoppers have given us lots of feedback. We’ve already begun to reshape the store to accommodate the needs of the community. The early acceptance of the store means we will accelerate plans to make capital expenditures into the physical plant.
The new store appears as if it will mean several million dollars in new sales to the Co-op, employment for dozens of our fellow community members and an increase in Co-op membership. Sales have increased dramatically at the site over when it was a P & C store. In just a week in June more than 200 new members joined the Co-op through the store.
The store was opened barely six weeks after we signed a lease on the property, which has to be a record for a co-op. Management had to act quickly to secure the site and get Board approval or the opportunity would have slipped away. Unfortunately, that meant we had to leave the Co-op membership out of the decision-making process. The Board, management and membership should discuss ways for future growth to happen under such circumstances while still involving members.
I have been in contact with our friends at the Upper Valley Food Co-op and manager Kye Cochran tells me that they have not felt a decline in sales since the opening of our White River Junction store, which is also good news. That means more expansion of cooperative business in the area!
