Can a new generation resurrect the Hants Co-op?

BY NADINE ARMSTRONG

The Hants Journal

NovaNewsNow.com

In March 2007, the Co-op store in Windsor closed its doors, and that final day was sad and disheartening for members and staff alike.

Yet those same persons appear to be as loyal to the community-based premise in 2008 as they were a year ago. At a special meeting held April 3, almost 100 members of the former Hants Co-op crammed into the Three Mile Plains Community Hall and voted in favor of reviving the 80-year-old business.

Garth Hazel, chair of the Co-op Council, and Mike Oulton, Zone Director for Co-op Atlantic, never really accepted the closure and have worked for the past year to assess it. There were many issues and the most obvious would be the $2-3,000 in lost revenue over the past seven years.

“It took time for everyone to stand back and look at things from a financial not emotional point of view, but in hindsight closing the store was the best thing they could have done at that time,” Oulton said.

Results of a recent member survey conducted by Dianne Kelderman, Chief Executive Officer for the Nova Scotia Co-op Council, offered insight into the store’s demise and what members would be looking for in a new Co-op. Variety was a key issue, she said, which was often sacrificed in favour of bulk value products.

“We can't be “Just Basics” anymore,” said Joe Barker, a Central Nova Scotia Manager. According to the survey, the one-off deals at the Co-op weren’t enough to draw consumers back on a regular basis.



Young families the key

Most of the turnout April 3 was seniors and they were the first to admit that a generation-gap created problems for the store. Although the Co-op did a good job serving that population, it missed the boat on the family market.

“We do have an image problem,” Oulton said. “How do we change that so the store appeals to a younger group of people? Young families are the only way we can create that volume of consumers.”

Many seniors shopped the Co-op primarily because it was small and familiar, and because staff there always remembered their names. But whether that loyalty would be enough to carry the store was a big question.

“This is the time to outline whether a new store can be profitable given the history,” Kelderman said. “If it were to open the same as it was, in the same building with the same level of support, it won’t work any better than it did before.”

Lack of proper shelving, space and refrigeration had discouraged shoppers, she said, and the building itself was in dire need of significant repairs. Those issues would still be there should the store reopen.



Many positives

However, there were many positives acknowledged by the survey, with customer service and local product topping the list. The Buy Local commitment was what often set the Co-op apart from the larger chain stores.

“We need to strongly advertise local product,” said one member. “Be it Nova Scotia beef or Nova Scotia pork or Nova Scotia chicken. In the other stores, they have no idea where it comes from - it just comes from their warehouse,” he said. “The farmers in the country are starving and need a place to sell their meat.”

Despite a strong show of support, Murray Hatchard, Director of Retail Operations for Co-op Atlantic,

was hesitant to commit. “You do have a voice in the community,” he said, “and that wouldn't happen in a large corporation. I don't know where this is going to go at this stage, but we need to keep open dialogue.”

Oulton said he has learned from the experience that communication is key. “We've got to find a way to know what you people want and when you want it,” he said. “Hindsight is great and we can all be critics after the fact, but how can we make this work now?”

West Hants Municipal Warden Richard Dauphinee said he feels sad each time he drives by the empty store, but it always comes down to the use it or lose it factor. “If you guys are actually committed, that’s one thing, but it’ll take a lot of time and money to make this happen and members need to have that commitment.”

The Co-op board will work with the local Business Development Centre to create a business plan, but they agreed it’s too early in the game to discuss costs.