Wondering why you’re not finding some of your favorite products on our shelves?
COVID-19 continues to impact our food supply. Demand for many products is again exceeding supply, reducing our ability to keep our shelves fully stocked.
Early in the pandemic, panic buying caused many of the out-of-stock situations that grocers experienced. Although the food industry was able to rebound somewhat, the problem has resurfaced due to the sustained nature of the pandemic combined with the slow pace of vaccination globally and the recent Delta variant surge. Many raw materials remain scarce, and labor shortages persist for national manufacturers, distributors, and transportation companies alike.
Frozen foods, baking products, snacks, supplements, beverages, paper products, household cleaners, and pet foods have been particularly affected, but our co-op has experienced out-of-stocks in many categories.
While the food industry is taking many steps to mitigate the problem, recovery estimates continue to be pushed out and out-of-stocks on some products from national suppliers are likely through the end of the year.
We’ve adopted many strategies to keep our shelves stocked. When we can’t get old favorites, we look for different brands. Sometimes we must offer fewer flavors or sizes on some things. Please know that we continue to order, and whenever we’re unable to stock an item, we do our best to find substitutes. We encourage you to try something new, and when in doubt or if you need assistance, please ask!
Our food system is strong, and these challenges will be resolved in time. Thank you for your support and patience as we continue to navigate the effects of the pandemic. We’re all in this together!
2021 Annual Meeting Recording Now Available
A record-breaking 152 Owners registered to attend our 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting meeting on October 23rd, and 76 people actually tuned in.
Owners heard updates on the state of the co-op and the GM search from members of the board of directors and from our new interim general manager, Dennis Hanley.
If you weren’t able to attend, click here to listen to a recording of the meeting.
Letter from the Board: Gratitude in a Time of Transition
Dear Co-op Market Owners,
Times of change are opportunities to rethink, reimagine, and resolve. Early in the pandemic, the Board of Directors received this advice from our consultant: “Never waste a transition.” And, as you may have noticed, transition has been a thing. We took this advice to heart and have worked hard to rethink our systems and processes. Some of them have been behind the scenes, like restructuring the budget process and updating our governance policies, and others have been more visible, like moving the annual meeting to the spring. While managing these transitions, the board has done our best to respond to the needs of the co-op team, owners and customers.
We recognize that some of these processes need extra attention. This fall our industry consultants, Columinate, offered us an opportunity to hire a dedicated interim general manager (IGM) who could bring the grocery retail expertise necessary to make our co-op thrive. We expect the next few months will bring a business turnaround with Dennis Hanley leading as an experienced IGM. He will then assist in training our new general manager once they are hired.
We acknowledge those who have carried us through these tumultuous times. We are thankful for Shaun Sims for serving as interim general manager in 2020 and Rich Rosenberg for his work as general manager in 2021. They kept our store open and safe, while continuing to make strides in store operations and service to our customers. We’re especially grateful to our team of essential workers, who came to the store with their sleeves rolled up, ready to get the work done.
We are thankful to Madeline Patterson-O’Dell, dedicated board member, who has completed her term. The board will miss her passion for nutrition, healthful food sourcing, and the co-op mission. We are thankful to NCG and Columinate who have supported the store and the board before and throughout the transitions of the past two years.
Finally, we thank you for continuing to support the co-op. We are more than a grocery store: We are a community. When you support the co-op with your time, dollars, and even “likes” on social media, you are investing in the type of community you want to live in.
The board is motivated to work for our values-driven co-op, and we remain committed to our purpose: “We serve our community and planet with a cooperative grocery business focused on healthful options.” Our co-op makes our community a better place, and we will keep doing the hard work so that it can continue to do so far into the future.
In cooperation,
Art Gelvin, Brian Kassof, Patrice Lee, Anduin McElroy, Madeline Patterson-O’Dell, Rich Seifert, Hilary Shook
2020-2021 Co-op Market Board of Directors
Owners, please join us for our virtual annual meeting!
Co-op Market 13th Annual Owners’ Meeting: 4 p.m. Saturday, October 23, 2021, via Zoom
It’s almost time for our Annual Owners’ Meeting! Please take a few moments and register to attend.
Our agenda will include reports on the state of the co-op from our Board of Directors and management team, as well as an update on our GM search. As always, there will be prizes! (You do have to be present at the meeting to win.)
We’ll be meeting virtually, via Zoom, and so we’ve created a set of Virtual Meeting Guidelines with important rules and instructions. Please read them before attending our meeting.
NOTE: Registration is required. Please RSVP here. When you register, you will receive the Zoom login information by email as soon as we’ve confirmed that you are an Owner.
Our meeting will start at 4 p.m., but you can enter the waiting room starting at 3:30 p.m. Please come in at least 10 minutes early to be sure you don’t have any technical problems.
During the business meeting, you will be asked to vote by poll to approve the agenda and the minutes from last year’s meeting.
We look forward to seeing you!
P.S. The first 50 Owners to register will be entered in a drawing for a $100 gift certificate! We’ll also be giving away turkeys and gift bags at the end of the meeting. To win, you must be present when your name is called.
COVID-19 Update
9/30/21
To Our Owners & Community,
In the interest of transparency, we want to inform you that we have learned that one of our front-end staff members has tested positive for COVID-19. They were exposed to the virus outside work, and this case is not related to the one we reported on September 20th.
The employee last worked at the co-op on Saturday, September 25th, and wore a face mask at all times while working. They are isolating at home.
We have informed all of our other employees and encouraged them to seek testing. Our co-op has a generous sick leave and vacation policy, and we will work with staff members on a case-by-case basis to ensure that they have the support they need. As part of our standard policy, we ask that any staff exhibiting any symptoms of respiratory illness or fever stay home, contact their supervisor, and notify their physician.
Throughout the pandemic, we have followed recommendations from state, local, and national health authorities. We pride ourselves on our cleanliness and food safety standards, and we are taking multiple steps to serve you, care for our staff, and be a responsible member of our community. For example, we sanitize and disinfect high-touch areas (e.g., freezer door handles, bathrooms, bulk food bins, shopping carts, check stands) frequently throughout the day.
Furthermore:
• We screen all employees for temperature and symptoms before each shift.
• All staff self-monitor and stay or go home if sick.
• We require documentation of a negative COVID-19 test before employees return to work after illness.
• We require all employees and shoppers to wear cloth face coverings at all times while in the store. The only exception is for employees who are eating in our break room, and we only allow two people in the break room at any given time.
• We ask all employees to practice social distancing in the store and in other public spaces.
• We maintain Plexiglas barriers at all registers to limit contact between cashiers and the public, and contactless payment is available.
If you have any questions about our COVID-19 policies, please contact Rich Rosenberg, General Manager, at gm@coopmarket.org.
Date Changes for Annual Meeting & Board Election
September 3, 2021
Dear Co-op Market Owner,
Your co-op’s board and management team have taken the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to reevaluate how we work together and how we serve you, our Owners. One of the most visible and meaningful components of our work as a cooperative is our annual Owner’s meeting.
For the past several years, we’ve met in October to hear reports on operations and finances, review issues that vitally affect Co-op Market, transact business such as bylaws changes and election of board members, and, perhaps most importantly, gather as a community.
Upon review, we recognized that holding the annual meeting in October puts undue strain on staff and management during the holiday season ordering crunch, which is already a hectic time for a grocery store. To alleviate this strain, the board has decided to move our annual meeting to mid-April. This year, we will still hold an abbreviated virtual meeting in October to present operational and financial updates, but we will move our larger meeting and board election to the Spring.
Please join us!
Our virtual meeting will take place at 4 p.m. Saturday, October 23rd. Look for an invitation with a Zoom link closer to that date. We plan to resume our traditional in-person community gathering, board election, and annual meeting on Saturday, April 17th, 2022. We’ll communicate details for April as soon as we know them.
Please help us guide the co-op!
Even though we’re delaying our election until Spring, you can still get involved with the board now, as we have an opening for a board member to be appointed in October. The appointee will serve until the April election.
We accept board candidate applications on a rolling basis. If you are available to be considered for appointment in October, please submit your application now. Three seats will be open for our April election, and we’ll start accepting applications for these in January.
As a food co-op, we depend upon our Owners to provide leadership by volunteering for board service. Our board members help by crafting long-range strategies for fulfilling our mission while upholding our values and monitoring our progress to ensure we’re moving forward in the right direction.
If you wonder whether board leadership is right for you, please attend one of our regular board meetings on the third Monday of the month.
You can access both the webinar and regular monthly meetings at this Zoom link.
Meeting ID: 838 0329 6836
Passcode: 303122
For more information and a copy of the board candidate application, please go to the governance page of our website.
We look forward to meeting the next generation of committed, engaged co-op board leaders. When you invest your dollars, energy, and time in our co-op, you are voting for the kind of community you want to live in.
In cooperation,
Co-op Market Board of Directors
Art Gelvin, Brian Kassof, Patrice Lee, Anduin McElroy, Madeline Patterson-O’Dell, Hilary Shook, Rich Seifert
PSA: Positive COVID-19 Case
9/20/21
To Our Owners & Community,
In the interest of transparency, we want to inform you that we have learned that one of our staff members has tested positive for COVID-19. This is only our second COVID case since the start of the pandemic.
The employee last worked at the co-op on Saturday, September 18. They have experienced no symptoms at all. The person works in administration and has limited contact with the public. They wore a face mask while working.
We have informed all of our other employees and encouraged them to seek testing. Our co-op has a generous sick leave and vacation policy, and we will work with staff members on a case-by-case basis to ensure that they have the support they need. As part of our standard policy, we ask that any staff exhibiting any symptoms of respiratory illness or fever stay home, contact their supervisor, and notify their physician.
Throughout the pandemic, we have followed recommendations from state, local, and national health authorities. We pride ourselves on our cleanliness and food safety standards, and we are taking multiple steps to serve you, care for our staff, and be a responsible member of our community. For example, we sanitize and disinfect high-touch areas (e.g., freezer door handles, bathrooms, bulk food bins, shopping carts, check stands) frequently throughout the day.
Furthermore:
• We screen all employees for temperature and symptoms before each shift.
• All staff self-monitor and stay or go home if sick.
• We require documentation of a negative COVID-19 test before employees return to work after illness.
• We require all employees and shoppers to wear cloth face coverings at all times while in the store. The only exception is for employees who are eating in our break room, and we only allow two people in the break room at any given time.
• We ask all employees to practice social distancing in the store and in other public spaces.
That we have only had two positive COVID-19 cases in more than 16 months – even with more than 300 shoppers in the store almost every day – is proof that these precautions are effective.
If you have any questions about our COVID-19 policies, please contact Rich Rosenberg, General Manager, at gm@coopmarket.org.
Mask requirement returns; shortened store hours
Two important updates:
1. Effective Thursday, August 5: Please remember to bring your mask when you shop at the co-op. For the health and safety of our staff and community, we will again require all people over the age of five to wear a cloth or paper mask while in the store.
As always, we are following the guidance of the CDC and local health authorities. With the highly contagious Delta variant on the rise, CDC now recommends that all people — including those who are fully vaccinated — wear masks while indoors in public.
If you are uncomfortable wearing a mask, we’ll shop for you! Please use our Curbside Grocery Pickup service.
We appreciate your kindness. Wearing your mask helps keep our staff safe so we can remain open and continue to provide good, healthy food for our community.
2. Effective Monday, August 9: Due to a critical staff shortage, we will be forced to shorten our store hours. Starting next week, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday thru Sunday.
We apologize for the inconvenience, especially to those of you who prefer to shop early to avoid our busiest hours. Unfortunately, we simply don’t have enough people to stock groceries and staff the registers at this time.
We are hiring, so please send any job seekers you know our way.
A list of open positions and an application are available on our website. Amber, our HR specialist, will be available from 1 to 3 p.m. every Thursday in August for on-the-spot preliminary interviews. Drop by with your resume and bring two professional references.
Thank you so much for your support as we navigate these tough times together.
COVID-19 Policy Update: Masks Are Requested, Not Required, at the Co-op.
Starting tomorrow, June 19th, we will no longer require fully vaccinated people to wear a face covering while shopping at the co-op. In accordance with CDC recommendations, people who are not fully vaccinated should still mask up while in the store. In addition, our employees will all continue to wear masks during their shifts, and we encourage customers to be considerate of their immunocompromised neighbors and put on a mask for the short time you are in our store if at all possible.
As we have done throughout the pandemic, we consulted with local health authorities to be sure that our decision makes sense. Given Fairbanks’ low COVID-19 case rate and increasing vaccination rate, we feel confident that this is the best course of action for now, and we were encouraged to hear that the doctor we consulted agrees.
We will continue to follow the state’s COVID-19 reports, and if cases suddenly increase again, we will reinstate the mask requirement for the safety of our staff and our community.
Thank you to everyone who has treated our employees kindly and sacrificed comfort for the sake of community. And we are especially grateful to our staff for sticking with us through a challenging and sometimes frightening year and a half.
Our Mask Policy Remains In Place
We are aware of the CDC’s recent announcement that fully vaccinated people can resume most regular activities without masks. This is good news! It shows that the country is moving in the right direction to control COVID-19.
At this time, however, we have decided to continue our mask requirement, without exceptions. To help us keep our staff and shoppers as safe as possible, please continue to wear your face covering and practice social distancing when you shop at Co-op Market.
We understand that everyone is tired of masking up – we are, too! However, the CDC’s announcement applies only to those who are vaccinated, and we have no way of knowing who is vaccinated and who is not. In addition, we know Alaskans would not appreciate having to show proof of vaccination before entering, and we don’t have enough staff to station someone at the door to check.
Even as COVID-19 is slowing down in the rest of the country, Fairbanks continues to be a hot spot, with the second-lowest vaccination rate and second-highest case rate in the state.
We will continue to assess the necessity of masking. We will modify our policy when the CDC and other health organizations determine that it is safe for everyone – not just those who are fully vaccinated – to go without a mask.
As always, if you have questions or concerns about our policy, please feel free to get in touch with our GM, Rich Rosenberg, at gm@coopmarket.org. You can also contact our Board of Directors at board@coopmarket.org.
