Looking at the Past Year & Looking Forward

10/7/24 –  Looking at the Past Year & Looking Forward

City Center Market Owners and Shoppers,

This past year has been a phenomenal addition to our co-op’s journey. We had the joy of welcoming several new staff members to our team, offered growth opportunities from within, and even welcomed back a familiar face. Strategic investments were made to enhance the shopper experience, leading to remarkable progress. We increased our commitment to local businesses and farmers and embarked on an ambitious expansion project. We are grateful to our team, owners, shoppers, and community for their unwavering support and inspiration.

We were pleased to announce the return of Gayle Cupit, our former General Manager. She now serves as the Fundraising Project Manager for our expansion project. She oversees the owner investment program, seeks grants, and contributes in numerous other ways. Gayle is essential for the successful completion of our expansion project; we are delighted to have her back on the team. City

Center Market has always believed in recognizing and promoting talent from within. Dominic Johnson has been promoted from Assistant Fresh Manager to Produce Manager. Under Dominic’s leadership, our produce sales have increased nearly 13% over the course of last year. Dominic is dedicated to offering the best organic produce and expanding our local selection by building on our strong relationships with local farmers.

Makenna Edlund has been promoted from Floor Lead to Grocery Manager. In her new role, Makenna oversees the operations and buying for the center store. Over the past year, center store sales have increased by over 16%. Makenna is committed to ensuring that we have the products our owners and shoppers are looking for, minimizing out-of-stocks, and introducing new local and organic items for our shoppers to enjoy.

Mike VanderHyde has been promoted from Fresh Manager to Merchandising Manager. Mike is now responsible for category management, promotions, including displays and buying, and negotiating the best deals for shoppers among various other responsibilities. Over the past several months, Mike has successfully ensured that a large number of items are on sale throughout the store consistently, helping to grow sales in every area of the store while saving our owners and shoppers thousands of dollars.

Please join us in congratulating Dominic, Makenna, and Mike on their well-deserved promotions. Their dedication and hard work have significantly contributed to our success, and I am confident they will continue to excel in their new roles.

To better serve our shoppers, we strategically invested in equipment that could be utilized after expansion. We installed a new 12-foot cooler which made it possible to expand our produce selection and offer more vegan options. It also made it possible for our vegan options to be in a separate cooler from meat products.

We’ve added new “combi” ovens in our deli, which can bake using convection, steam, or a mix of both. These ovens enhance our operational efficiencies, increase our product selection, and ensure that our shelves stay well-stocked with a variety of our own co-op made products.

Additionally, we purchased new carts which you may have seen already. These carts are the larger versions of our new small carts, providing more convenience for our shoppers. They also will be more comfortable for our littlest shoppers to sit in.

We achieved record sales of nearly $4.8 million, marking a 15.5% increase over the previous fiscal year. Our co-op’s growth has outpaced both the grocery industry as a whole and the natural foods sector nationally. This remarkable achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our incredible staff and our fantastic owners. City Center Market increased our local spending to $822,904.81, acquiring products and services from our local producers and vendors, furthering our commitment to supporting local.

We welcomed 288 new owners this year, with sales to owners accounting for more than 75% of our sales growth. Our owners and their families saved thousands of dollars on their grocery bills through discounts, loyalty points, and patronage. For our owners, loyalty point savings alone increased by over 55% from the previous year.

This year, our owners are enjoying patronage dividends of over $137,000, with 20% given back as store credit and the remaining invested back into our co-op to help us better serve the community.

On top of all of that, we were able to increase the amount spent on payroll, benefits, and staff discounts by 20%, increase our cash reserves by 25%, and still have a strong profit left over to invest in the future.

Finishing such a successful year is motivating as we aim to nearly triple the size of our co-op. As you know, we have begun working on expanding our co-op. While we only began the actual project this past year, we in fact have been preparing for our co-op’s expansion for several years. Behind the scenes we have been focusing on refining operations, streamlining processes, establishing standard operating procedures, and enhancing the shopping experience.

In 2020, the Board of Directors commissioned a market study to explore the possibility of a second location or expanding our current one. The study concluded that the better option would be to expand our existing location.

During the summer of 2022, while the nearby space was unoccupied, City Center Market engaged the National Co-op Grocers Association (NCG) for a feasibility study on expansion. By the time the study concluded, the space was no longer available. Nevertheless, we remained committed to our expansion efforts.

In November 2022, City Center Market updated our Point of Sale and back-office system to SMS so we could improve our point-of-sale capability, efficiency, scalability, and improve our shopper experience at checkout.

In 2023, the space adjacent to us became vacant again, and in December of 2023, the Board commissioned an update to the market study using the current sales figures for projecting future sales after expanding our current location. We also partnered with UNFI to begin work designing the new store layout.

To ensure we did not lose the opportunity, City Center Market began leasing the vacant space on January 1, 2024. Quickly thereafter, is when we welcomed back Gayle as our Fundraising Project Manager.

In the Spring, we asked our owners and shoppers to complete a survey asking them to share what they would like to see if our co-op was to expand.

With the responses of the surveys, we finalized the store layout and contracted with UNFI again to create detailed plans for equipment requirement drawings, refrigeration design, and for their equipment project management services.

In June and July, we began requesting bids from General Contractors. With the assistance of NCG, City Center Market updated the proforma/feasibility provided by NCG Store Development in 2022 using the updated projections, equipment estimates from UNFI, and more current operational projections.

We are currently working on the interior design of the store, including details like lighting. We are expecting quotes on equipment and bids from the General Contractors and Refrigeration/HVAC companies in the coming weeks.

There is so much more work to be done before we can begin construction, including selecting a General Contractor, updating our projections with the construction figures and funding the project. Alongside our Owner Investment Program, we will be investing a sizable portion of our cash as well as seeking out funding from traditional lenders and applying for grants.

We do not have a definitive timeline of the future of this project. However, we are optimistically hopeful that we will be able to begin construction by Spring 2025 with a goal of being completed by the end of Summer 2025.

“We credit our significant sales growth to the incredible support of our owners and community.”

This past year has been outstanding for our co-op, marked by record sales, significant investments in enhancing the shopper experience, and strengthening our commitment to supporting local businesses and farmers. We credit our significant sales growth to the incredible support of our owners and community. I’d also like to give thanks to our Board for their steadfast leadership and our staff who make the impossible possible. The success of our co-op is driven by the extraordinary dedication and hard work of our outstanding staff. They make our co-op a wonderful place to work, shop, and unwind with a coffee and scone. It’s an honor to grow, learn, and serve our community alongside this team.

We look forward to continuing this past year’s momentum and with your continued support, expanding our co-op!

Cooperatively yours,

John Kenny

General Manager