Keep the co-op afforable
I have been involved with the Seward Co-op since 1971, either as a worker or a member. I was there when we took over Mike and Peg’s Superette, scraping the old asbestos tiles off the floor and all. One of the major goals at the time was not only to market healthy food but also affordable food. (Whole wheat flour was five cents a pound when we opened.) It seems that somewhere along the way we lost sight of that goal. Now might be a good time to revisit that issue if we are planning to move across the street from the 640 units of low-income housing [at Seward Towers], where the average household income is around [$12,000 a year, according to CommonBond, which manages the towers].
It seems that one easy way to cut costs is the reduction of staff. I almost fell over the first time a staff person asked me if I wanted them to bag my five items. When did a store that used to require that a member volunteer once a month feel the need to provide baggers? I would suspect that if you asked the membership if they required bagging assistance, a great majority would say “no.”
I’m not for putting people out of work, but our first priority is to provide healthy food at an affordable price. I hope you give this some careful consideration so we can become a store that serves the entire neighborhood.
last revised: June 14, 2007