Vancouver Food Cooperative to Unveil Master Plan

[vancou...@vancouverfood.coop]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2008
Vancouver Food Cooperative to Unveil Master Plan

The Vancouver Food Cooperative shall hold a meeting to discuss
concrete plans for a cooperative grocery store this coming Wednesday,
August 27, 2008. To be held downstairs at the Fort Vancouver Regional
Library, 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd, the meeting begins at 6:30 pm and is
open to the general public according to FVRL policy. Called last May
by owners under RCW 24.06.100, this special meeting is for the board
to provide a progress report to owners, including a publicly-available
version of the business and marketing plan from now until opening of a
retail store. To meet the owners’ petition, this plan shall include a
clear branding, marketing and financing strategy, with benchmarks
indicated in terms of members and/or dollars needed to successfully
open a storefront.

The need for better grocery options in west Vancouver has long been
recognized by the city's Vancouver City Center Vision Team and VFC's
effort to open a cooperative store in west Vancouver have been
supported by other cooperatives, The Columbian, The Vancouver Voice,
The Vancouver Business Journal and others, including former city
development official Stephen Burdick and national cooperative groups
such as the Food Co-op 500. This last group has given the Vancouver
Food Cooperative almost $10,000 in grants to help with their planning,
and last year brought national cooperative expert Stuart Reid to
Vancouver. Combined with almost $30,000 in owner equity raised by
sales of shares, this places VFC well on its way to achieving its
original vision of a cooperative grocery store in west Vancouver.

"Opening a modest grocery store is a very soluble business problem,"
according to Rory Bowman, long-term supporter and author of an
earlier, 2007 version of the business plan. "One can either expand
from a buying club to a small retail location or hope to raise much
more money and open big," he explained. One example of a cooperative
which successfully "opened big" was the River Valley Market in
Northampton, Massachusetts. Closer cooperatives that started small and
expanded include People's, Food Front and Alberta Cooperative Grocery
in Portland, and a cooperative in Yelm, Washington. "Younger
cooperatives such as Alberta and Yelm have proven that this model
works, especially in established, under-served neighborhoods such as
west Vancouver." The Alberta Cooperative Grocery opened in 2001 with
sales of almost $2 million out of 3,000 square for 2007, its third
profitable year. Opening in 2006, the Yelm Cooperative is on track to
gross almost $400,000 this year out of 1,000 square feet. "This is a
very exciting time to be involved in a food cooperative," Bowman
concluded.

Founded by Heather Lehman and Sunrise O'Mahoney in 2003, the Vancouver
Food Cooperative has worked toward a cooperative grocery store in west
Vancouver since then, incorporating in 2006, beginning its "owner
drive" in 2007 and seating its first elected board of directors in
2008. The board has received professional market studies and financial
pro-formas by national experts Pete Davis and Bill Gessner, both of
Cooperative Development Services. The current board of directors
includes Anja Larson, James Olson, Jim Tiefenthaler, CPA Rustin
Brewer, Sharon Kulish-Bayles and Sunrise O'Mahoney, all of Clark County.

For more information please visit http://VancouverFood.coop or contact
Sunrise O'Mahoney at (360) 694-3663, 694-FOOD.

[Rory]

As of this morning, August 24, there is still no mention whatsoever of
the special meeting "progress report" called under RCW 24.06.100 for
this coming Wednesday at 6:30pm at the Fort Vancouver Regional
Library.

At their own expense, petitioners sent out the legally-required notice
under RCW 24.06.105 on Saturday, August 16, and this should have been
delivered to the 164 owners of record using data (inadvertently)
supplied by VFC secretary Sharon Kulish-Bayles.

Does anyone know of any indication whatsoever that the current board
has a plan of any sort, or are they just hoping that to magically
pretend the petition and legally-required meeting never existed?

What moxie!

[Rory]

Oops. That should have read "no mention on the website." Be prepared!

http://www.vancouverfood.coop/index.php/calendar.html

http://www.vancouverfood.coop/index.php/forum/5.html

http://www.vancouverfood.coop/index.php/pages/comm_index.html

http://www.vancouverfood.coop/index.php/articles/view/5/4.html