Dearest Cooperative Community of Greensboro,

The time is right for changes and an abundance of patience! 

After seven months of waiting for the delivery of the front doors, we have been notified of (hopefully) the last delay. We were hoping they would get here this month but now the demo is slated for late November and doors are expected to arrive December 7th and hopefully will slip right into the new frames. We will begin with the removal of register one and then the rebuilding will begin. The plan is to do this in phases, so please be prepared for changes in traffic flow in and out of the store, possible noise, and confused people. Let’s all help each other get through it gracefully. I promise that this will be over soon and once the floor is redone and the tree reinstalled, we can all breathe a sigh of relief at having our Co-op back together again. Other changes being planned include a bathroom remodel with individual locking bathrooms. The issue as I understand it now is that all three would have to be handicap accessible and there isn’t enough room to make that happen. So we are rethinking how to do it. The waste center will get a facelift too. The plan is to be more user and earth-friendly with composting and proper recycling with a sink for handwashing and container rinsing. This is way more complicated than you would think it should be. Stayed tuned for more details to come.

I just got back from the Co-op Impact Conference in Washington DC. It is hosted by NCBA (The National Cooperative Business Association) and CLUSA International (The Cooperative League of the United States of America). It was my first time attending and I have come home so inspired by all of the great work going on in the co-op world from housing to healthcare to worker-owned cooperation. I was even given the last-minute opportunity to Hike the Hill and lobby for the cooperative movement with several Legislative Directors! The real co-op magic was happening as I was prepared for this because of a class that I am currently taking with Dr. Etsuko Kinefuchi, Environmental Advocacy, at UNCG. What an amazing gathering of genius cooperators worldwide and an amazing experience to advocate in person on Capitol Hill! 

No one knows everything, but together we know a lot!

See you in the aisles,

Nicole, GM