Somewhere Over the Super Moon

John Tashiro, General Manager

The snow has finally arrived and I am waiting with much anticipation for more in the forecast! Looking back at last year’s unseasonably warm weather, I personally hope for a proper winter this year for the health of our lake, planet and local economy not to mention all the fun outdoor activities with family and friends from building snow people and castles to sledding and skiing.

First and foremost, thank you for so many positive and kind comments with the lead up to Thanksgiving. Our staff starts planning in August to best prepare and serve you, our Members and customers, so you can celebrate the holiday in deliciously tasty and local “food” fashion. We remain ever focused on continuing to increase our local offerings with the sale of Vermont turkeys and an abundance of seasonal sweet potatoes, squash, chard and cranberries along with our usual staples of eggs, butter, flour, milk and many others. As you may recall, we define “local” and “made in Vermont” as products grown, raised and processed in Vermont or products substantially altered by a farm or company based in Vermont (like coffee and chocolate). We’re continuing to expand on our ever growing 2800+ offerings of local and made in Vermont products, especially as we expand beyond one store. Your feedback is important in this process, so please continue to keep those customer comment cards coming!

Speaking of expansion, we were absolutely over-the-super-moon ecstatic to receive our building permits from the City last month for the South End store. Since then, we have been working closely with City departments in order to begin construction in early December. We are also planning an official groundbreaking ceremony in January to mark this very momentous occasion. Currently, we are on schedule to open by early fall 2017, which means we’ll have lots to be thankful for as we celebrate our next Thanksgiving as a multi-store Co-op.

As for updates on our expansion in the Old North End (ONE), I shared in my November article that we decided on a “hold and assess” approach. For now, we will pay rent on the ONE site until the spring of 2018 by which time we will have had a chance to assess our South End store performance. In the meantime, we will be using the ONE site for some much needed storage (giving us the ability to prebuy some products for the downtown store and share good pricing with you), staff office and meeting space, and training space for employee development.

Remember to join us this month for our 19th Annual COTS Tree Sale! By the time you see this, we will have just received 660 trees (between two deliveries on November 30 and December 2), with all the proceeds going to the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), one of our long standing Community Outreach Partners. Since 1982, COTS has been providing emergency shelter, services, and housing for people who are homeless or marginally housed in Vermont. They advocate for long-term solutions to end homelessness and we are honored to be supporting their great work. We certainly understand why the trees sell out so quickly every year for such a worthy cause and suspect this year will be no different.

Lastly, with the upcoming holiday season, I would like to share my passion for books and offer some titles you might like to share with family and friends. These are books that I’ve enjoyed throughout the year and thought you might too.

For Toddlers: Press Here by Hervé Tullet

For Children: Water Is Water: A Book About the Water Cycle by Miranda Paul and Jason Chin

For Tweens:  The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel

For Teens: Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

For Adults: What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell

As always, thank you all for your ongoing support as we continue to make every effort to listen and serve you, our Members and the community, in the very best way we can. Wishing you all a very Happy Holidays and wonderful New Year.