State of the Co-op, November 2021

To Our Community,

This week at the Co-op Board of Directors meeting, I presented a brief overview of the Co-op’s operations for the month ending November 2021. Below are the highlights.

Overall, activity remained relatively robust. As you are all well aware, our Co-op, like the industry, has been experiencing scheduling delays from vendors, which is resulting in out-of-stock conditions for select products. Although the Co-op Merchandising team is managing well during this initial phase, we are not immune to these developing conditions.

The graphs below reflect data for sales, customer count, basket size, average price for gas, and gallons pumped for the years 2019 through November 2021.

Sales

Grocery, Meat, Produce, Dairy, and Frozen Foods continue to provide strong sales growth. Sales for the 10 months ending November are also approximately the same period last year ($71.9 million versus $72.0 million). On a year-to-date basis sales continue to exceed budget.

Financials

Customer visits for November are up over last year but remain lower than 2019’s figures. Average basket size is approximately $54.91 down from $57.19 last November.

Gasoline

Gas prices began the year at approximately $2.24 per gallon. At the end of November, the average price is approximately $3.46 or $1.22 more per gallon. Our average price is approximately $1.23 per gallon more than November last year. For the month, we have pumped over 16,000 more gallons than the same period last year. Sales of our non-gas business remains ahead of budget year to date.

In Other News

Our Next General Manager. The GM search is on, and the Search Committee is looking for your feedback. Over the weeks ahead, the GM Search Committee will be soliciting input from our members, shoppers, employees, and community partners. As I wrote in my message last week, I know from experience that companies rarely ask for input on an appointment such as this.

So please take advantage of this unique opportunity! Your voice is both wanted and needed as we search for the person who will lead the Co-op into the future.

Run for the Board

Would you like more opportunities for leadership at the Co-op yourself? Remember that if you are a Co-op member, now is the time to consider running for the Board of Directors! Although the election is not until next April, the Board begins the process now to give members time to learn more about what is involved.

Learn more on our website, or contact election committee chair Conicia Jackson at coniciajackson@board.coopfoodstore.com.

Wrap Up

To all of our members and shoppers, thank you as always for the ongoing support. We will talk again briefly next Thursday. In the meantime, remember to be kind to one another and to yourselves, and we look forward to serving you in our stores and at the curbside.

Onward and upward,

Paul

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Paul Guidone

Paul Guidone, CFA, spent the better part of four decades in the investment management business here and abroad. He held positions ranging from analyst through Deputy Chairman and Group CEO, at organizations such as Citigroup (US) and The HSBC Group (London and Hong Kong). He joined the Co-op in 2016 as the CFO and in 2018 became Strategic Advisor to the General Manager. Paul was appointed by the Co-op Board as interim General Manager in March 2020 and General Manager in September 2020. To contact, email PGuidone@coopfoodstore.com.

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