GM Report                                                                                               9/27/07

● It has been our pleasure to welcome our new deli manager, Amy, all the way from La Montanita Food Co-op in Albuqeurque, NM.  We interviewed 3 excellent candidates, ultimately selecting Amy for her long history of co-operative deli experience.  Perhaps you have already noticed a number of positive changes over there, including a greater number of salad case offerings on the weekends, and a daily offering of 3 soups instead of the usual 2.  She has also upped the level of cleanliness and organization in the department and has a strong and clear vision of some of the other changes that she would like to implement.  In her first few days, she was also part of hiring 3 new deli staff members to fill various openings resulting from seasonal turnover and Zafra's promotion into our new IT co-ordinator.  What a relief it is to see some of the scheduling holes being filled with such excellent new staff energies!

● We finally ended the book sale that carried over from Customer Appreciation Day during this past week.  The total amount of monies collected from both the book sale and the auctioning of the raffle baskets totals $1,216.91.  When split equally amongst the four organizations we were raising money for—New Hope for Women, Stone Soup, Food For Maine's Future, and Knox County Animal Shelter—each organization will receive a whopping $304.23.  Look for publicity in our local papers!  We still have a few books hanging around (we started out with a lot!) which will also be donated to the up and coming Brooks Public Library.  Interestingly, as the sale continued in the castle, no one approached us with any complaints that the “kid's space” was unavailable.

● It's inventory time again!  We're gearing up to do a full store count on Sunday, September 30^th. We'll be closing early that day, at 3 pm, in order to get the counting done in a timely fashion without wearing out our staff by keeping them here into the wee hours of the morning.  Zafra, as our new IT co-ordinator, will have a chance to practice his new skills, as technical difficulties inevitably arise. 

● We had a wonderful staff party and picnic the weekend after Customer Appreciation Day up at Lake St. George.  The party was pretty well attended, although we had a number of staff members skip out because they were simply worn out.  I fielded 1 complaint from a customer who was disappointed that we closed early, but received an overwhelming support from others whom I had to turn away, wishing us a great celebration.  We've had a really great summer for sales, and it is evident that everyone worked extremely hard because now we are all quite tired. It's amazing how things just suddenly slow down all at once.

● The management team has received further application materials from the National Co-operative Grocer's Association for consideration.  We don't have consensus amongst the managers, GM's and DM's alike, about whether or not membership in NCGA is worth pursuing. If any board member would like to review the application materials, please let me know and I will run some copies off for you.  The pros and cons are many, with strong support for the resources to which our membership would give us access balancing against a potential loss of autonomy for our buyers and a mandate that our financial data become shared information.  Then there is also the consideration of the dues payments, which would amount to close to $6,000 annually.

● Membership update:  Since our last meeting, we have gained 32 new shareholders, bringing our membership total to 2,601.

● Book club update:  we are now reading Deep Economy by Bill McKibben to again take a look at the local economic benefits of eating locally.  The group is also putting together plans to sponsor an “Eating Local Challenge” to take place in November and to conclude with a community harvest dinner and Contra Dance.