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An archive of Cooperative Grocer magazine articles going back to 1985.

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Title Post datesort icon Issue
The Changing Face of Co-op Development
by Stuart Reid

How do you start a new retail food co-op? Can you give me a checklist and a budget? I’ll take it from there!

If only it were that easy. With hundreds of communities interested in opening new...

15 Oct 2010 #149 July - August - 2010*
Understanding Marketing Research
by Debbie Suassuna

In order to improve overall sales performance and compete effectively against other food stores, food co-ops can choose from several types of market research tools. Generally speaking, the results...

15 Oct 2010 #149 July - August - 2010*
Collaboration and Resilience
by Eric Deluca

What does it take to cultivate a resilient food system? Regional efforts underway in the Northeast and around the country suggest some inputs and practices that seem to be doing just that. These...

25 Oct 2010 #149 July - August - 2010*
"Consumer Groups Get It Wrong" -- Plus a new food safety report
by Dave Gutknecht

Adding to the earlier version of this story: National Sustainable Agriculture Committee has released a new report on food safety: “A Sustainable Agriculture Perspective on Food Safety.”

...

25 Oct 2010 • Endcap Articles
The Color of Dedication
by Barth Anderson

Stage three-and-a-half means "yellow," and yellow means "go, go, go" in the banana world.

26 Oct 2010 #150 September - October 2010
Recommended: "Catching Fire"
by Dave Gutknecht

Animal response to fire typically is described as fear and flight. Yet I have noticed many times that the smell of seasoned oak in a wood-burning stove is so savory that it makes my mouth water...

12 Nov 2010 • Endcap Articles
Food Co-ops and the Road to Organic Valley: Part 2
by Dave Gutknecht

[Originally published in "RootStock," Spring-Summer 2009]

Part 1, published in the previous edition of RootStock, summarized twenty years of food co-ops’ early years, when these community-...

20 Nov 2010 • Endcap Articles
Prospects in Hard Times: Part 3
by Dave Gutknecht

[“Rootstock” Part 3: 2009, unpublished]

Think organic food. Think childcare and other essential services. Think community economic development and local lending. These are the kinds of...

20 Nov 2010 • Endcap Articles
Building Blocks: A=L+C
by Dave Gutknecht

I remember learning balance sheet basics at some of my earliest co-op meetings. "A = L + C" was written for all to see, then explained again and again: Assets = Liabilities + Capital. When we...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
Basics and Beyond
by Karen Zimbelman

In 2009, in response to member interest and needs, the National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) launched two new training programs, one geared towards co-op general managers and one geared...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
A General Manager Bids Farewell
by David Montano

When I woke up that fateful morning, I had first-day-on-the-job jitters. However, I was excited about my new job and eager to get started. I was introduced to the staff and then handed a bucket, a...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
Domestic Fair Trade
by Erbin Crowell

Since the beginnings of the movement, co-ops have been catalysts for the transformation of economies around them. The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, often cited as the founders of modern...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
Farm Aid 2010
by Cissy Bowman

Farm Aid's 25th anniversary concert was held on Oct. 2 in Milwaukee, Wis. It was a celebration of music and of the devotion of the organization to family farmers. However, behind the great music...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
How Are We Doing?
by Mel Braverman

In my work with department managers, I typically ask, "How do you feel you are performing?" Almost every manager easily responds to this question. Then I ask how they think their supervisor would...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
Flexible or Flawed
by Dave Gutknecht

Securing adequate capital from members as well as external sources is a primary ­cooperative challenge. The importance of capital often is not well recognized in these democratic organizations,...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
Understanding the ULCAA
by Lynn Pitman

Since 2001, new cooperative laws have been adopted in five states—Wyoming, Tennessee, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin—and introduced in the Nebraska state legislature. These laws do not replace...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
Governance Considerations for New Retail Food Cooperatives
by Thane Joyal

The Uniform Limited Cooperation Association Act (UCLAA) and a variety of state statutes have provided new financing flexibility for organizers of food cooperatives. In addition, these business...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
St. Peter Food Co-op Chooses Flexibility in Reincorporation
by Stuart Reid

St. Peter Food Co-op in Minnesota ­reincorporated under Minn. 308b ­statutes, one of the first state limited cooperative associations (LCA) options, in 2007. They decided to make the change in...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
A Trojan Horse in Our Midst
by Laddie Lushin, Esq.

The Uniform Limited Cooperative Association Act (which I'll refer to as the ULCAA or the Act) is a "model" statute proposed for adoption in the individual states. It is a governing statute for an...

08 Dec 2010 #151 November - December 2010
Bad for Bees: EPA Bows to Bayer
by Dave Gutknecht

Tom Philpot at Grist, www.grist.org, continues to contribute excellent reporting on food and pharm corporations.

These businesses and their federal regulators regularly undermine public...

13 Dec 2010 • Endcap Articles
Cooperative Finance: Discounts Provoke Discussion!
by

Editor's note:

Recently, several readers wrote letters to the editor discussing financial matters.  These letters appear below, followed by a response from the authors of the finance...

28 Dec 2010 #064 May - June - 1996
Director Recruitment: The Nominations Process
by Karen Zimbelman

It's true. The responsibilities of being a director usually become so consuming that not much time ends up being devoted to thinking about upcoming elections. For many co-ops, the "recruitment and...

04 Jan 2011 #002 December - January - 1985
A Victory for Local and Regional Food
by Dave Gutknecht

Updating the story on food safety legislation.

05 Jan 2011 • Endcap Articles
Hanover Co-op Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary!
by Dan Nordley

Seventy-five years ago—a general meeting was held in the library of the Hanover, New Hampshire, High School at 7:30 p.m., January 6, 1936, for the purpose of organizing a consumers’ club.

14 Jan 2011 • Endcap Articles
Capital Crunch, Capitol Crawl
by Dave Gutknecht

Creative proposals and inspiring stories illustrate ways to advance the cooperative agenda. That agenda is quite diverse in its programs, but co-ops share a common set of values and principles and...

01 Feb 2011 #152 January - February - 2011