“The Co-op is financially robust”

Here at the Kootenay Co-op we have a triple bottom line:  People, Planet, Profit. The average conventional grocery retailer has profit as its sole bottom line. Although we place “profit” last on our list, it is still a very big focus for the staff and Board.  

Without a strong financial standing, our Co-op would not be able to meet the needs of our staff and members, nor would we have resources to further our commitments towards community environmental endeavours.

Our Board works together with our finance staff to ensure financial resiliency.  Our Board and finance staff have years of financial expertise both from within our Co-op as well as through working with other business enterprises in Canada.  We create financial risk registers which are reviewed throughout the year.

All Board members have access to finance training courses so that all directors are able to understand, scrutinize, and have input into the monthly financials.

Looking back over the past years, members can see that the Co-op has met or exceeded total sales year-over-year.  This has enabled us to significantly reduce our debt, to keep our margins (prices!) low, and to increase wages to staff and donations to our community.

We should all be celebrating how amazing it is to have such a principled alternative to food retailing in our small town!

Yay Co-op!

Stay tuned as we provide you with more of our Strategic Plan goals in the future.

Please feel free to email the board if you have ideas which you feel may move us forward in achieving the goals of your co-op!