Yes, We Are Moving
By
Kenna Eaton, Co-op General Manager, from
the February newsletter
Stepping
out of yoga class the other morning I heard a familiar question “Is
it true? Is the Co-op moving?”
The answer
is “Yes! It’s true!”
All those rumors you have heard around town are true, well, most
of them anyway. My yoga classmate asked why we were moving and
it took me a moment to collect my thoughts and to remember why.
I think the answer is complex but worthwhile explaining. I believe
the primary reason is for our community. The concept of the third
place perhaps describes it best.
If your first
place is your home and your second place is your workspace, what
is your third place, the place where you meet your
community? It could be your church, or a favorite bookstore, or
the Farmer’s Market, or even your local Co-op.
We would like
the Co-op to continue to be that central place, but the gathering
area in the store is minuscule and one of the
main
entrances cuts thru the center of it. So, where else can we gather
with our friends to discuss local politics or share a cup of tea
or listen to a local musician? That’s really why I want to
move: more space. More space at the Co-op, not just for more products,
but also for more gathering space, more conversation space, and
more community space.
Almost everyone I have talked to has been excited by this move.
The response really has been overwhelmingly positive with members
already asking how they can help and if they can lend us money!
(More on that later, as we will make it easy for everyone to
help make this move possible.)
Flashback
to mid-November 2004: it was a Saturday and the Co-op Board of
Directors was meeting for a day-long retreat focused on
planning for our future in a space that was rapidly becoming too
small to serve us well. We heard the rumor that Garts was leaving
town—vacating the building at 105 East Fifth Street that
had started life as a Safeway in 1960 and then in 1978 became a
sporting goods store.
We
wanted the Co-op to be in the space as long as we could collectively
remember. Our imaginations were sparked and our day’s plans
hijacked as we starting visioning the Co-op in a larger space with
all our dreams fulfilled: still downtown and still a community
center.
Following
our board’s tentative support for a move to the
Garts building, we started talking to Bethine Kenworthy, the owner.
Beth said that Gart’s Sporting Goods had decided that the
space in Moscow was too small to fit their standards so they weren’t
renewing their lease.
At 15,000 square feet it is twice the size of our current location
and just the right size for us. It seemed so serendipitous right
from the start. Our current lease was due to expire in September
2005 and Garts was leaving by the end of January 2005.
The board
and staff spent uncounted hours looking at the numbers, deciding
the move was a doable option. By mid-December we were
able to negotiate a lease for 15 years with an option to renew
afterwards. So after we complete this move, we won’t be moving
again anytime soon.
Frankly, we feel that this is the pinnacle for us: a real grocery
store building in the center of Moscow with its own off-street
parking, where we would continue to be a thriving, vibrant part
of Downtown Moscow.
A couple of
years ago the Economic Development Council conducted a survey
that found that year-round the Co-op is the “number-one
reason shoppers visit downtown Moscow.” The Co-op is an anchor
store for downtown, a fact that we’re very proud of. We strive
to be good neighbors and community stewards. We try to buy from
as many local producers as we can and constantly look for ways
to enrich our community.
For this move, the projected cost of leasehold improvements,
new equipment and related expenses is close to one million dollars.
While that may sound like a lot (and it is) it is also a number
that may come down as we get closer to knowing exactly what needs
to be done. We certainly will not go over that amount. The financing
will come in the form of funds already saved by the Co-op ($100,000),
a loan from a local bank ($400,000), a loan from Clearwater Economic
Development Assn ($150,000), and loans from Co-op members ($350,000).
We will also be looking for donations and paid-in-full memberships
of approximately $15,000. When
we moved to our present location in December 1998 and January
1999, we budgeted $300,000 and came in under budget and on time!
$77,000 of that came from members as loans, about 25% of the entire
cost of the project. We even took a few more loans to pay for our
seating area remodel in 2001 and all member loans were repaid in
full by November 2004. So, we’ve done this once already – successfully
completed a move supported by member loans.
Loans are a great way to support the Co-op and keep your money
invested locally. Plus, we offer interest rates well above available
bank rates. We will pay 4% interest annually on loans from $100
to $10,000 (at 4 years), 5% annually on loans of $10,000 to $20,000
(at 5 years), and 6% annually on loans of more than $20,000 (at
six years).
Our lease at the Garts building starts March 1, 2005, with an
anticipated move date of August 1, 2005. We would like to be in
and up and
running by the time the fall semester starts. We will have to
take all our equipment and inventory with us in order to keep costs
low and we will be asking our members to help for the same reason.
The new store will basically double our current space, allowing
every department to double in size.
While we are
still in the process of figuring things out and separating our
wants from our needs, we would like to add both
fresh, natural
meats as well as fresh ground flour, two services we currently
don’t have room for. We envision a much larger deli seating
area with a small stage for music or poetry readings as well as
wall space for art.
Well that’s it in a nutshell. We’ve studied this move
carefully. We’re convinced this is the right move for your
Co-op. Surely things will change as we get deeper into this project,
but we are excited to see what it looks and feels like to finally
have enough space to fit our needs and possibly our dreams.
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