Co-op Market

Grocery & Deli

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Monday - Saturday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
526 Gaffney Road
Fairbanks, AK 99701
907.457.1023

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How to Shop for Groceries During a Pandemic

April 29, 2020 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

• Wash your hands frequently and properly.

• Take care of your own health – and don’t come into the store if you’re sick.

• Come by yourself if possible, so fewer people are in the store at once. If you must bring someone else, have that person wait in the car while you check out. We have limited the number of shoppers in the store to 10.

• Help us help our vulnerable community members by being mindful of when you shop. We’ve reserved 8 to 9 a.m. Monday thru Saturday for seniors and medically vulnerable people.

• We are wearing masks to protect you. We would appreciate it if you would wear a mask to protect us.

• Bring a shopping list. Make your visit quick and purposeful.

• Try to stay at least 6 feet away from anyone who isn’t in your immediate household. We’ve put down yellow floor stickers to help you visualize the distance.

• Don’t be offended if an employee steps back when you’re talking. We’re encouraging staff to practice safe social distancing, too.

• Touch items only if you intend to buy them.

• Bag your own groceries if you bring your own shopping bags. We’ve got tables set up along the front windows to give you room to do this.

• Buy only what you need so that your neighbors can get what they need, too. We have to limit purchase on some products, such as toilet paper.

• Be kind – to other shoppers, to our staff, and to yourself.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: COVID-19

Updated Temporary Store Hours

April 27, 2020 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

Now that business has returned to a more normal pace, we’re adjusting our store hours to better meet the needs of our shoppers. We will continue to reserve a shopping hour for seniors and medically vulnerable people, and we are maintaining a rigorous cleaning schedule. Effective today, our new hours are:

Monday thru Saturday
• 8 to 9 a.m. — reserved shopping hour for seniors/medically vulnerable people
• 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. — open to the general public

Sunday
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. — open to the general public

We no longer need to take a two-hour break midday for cleaning and stocking. We found that many people were confused by it, and we were turning lots of shoppers away.

We are continuing our heightened cleaning schedule throughout the day, and we’ll be closing one hour earlier to do more deep cleaning and stocking for the next day. In addition, we have contracted with a professional cleaning service to take care of the heavier work.

We are so grateful to our community. Your patience and loyalty have helped us make the changes necessary to keep our employees (and you) safe. Thank you!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: COVID-19

Curbside Grocery Pickup

April 14, 2020 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

We are currently testing a new process for ordering groceries online with curbside pickup. For the time being, we are only offering this service to older Alaskans, medically vulnerable people and those who are quarantined.

Please be patient as we iron out this new program, as there are lots of logistical issues for us to work through.

Click here for an order form. Just fill it out and email to curbside@coopmarket.org. Due to limited staffing, we cannot accept phone orders. Please do not call to inquire whether items are in stock.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

COVID-19 Update: New Checkout Procedure

March 25, 2020 By Kristin Summerlin 1 Comment

In our small store, it’s hard to maintain the recommended 6-foot separation at the registers, so to help keep our cashiers (and you) safe from the coronavirus, we’re instituting some new checkout procedures.

1. Unload your grocery cart or basket onto the conveyor belt on the checkout stand.
2. Immediately take your cart or basket to the end of the register stand, where bagging normally happens. Wait there.
3. The cashier will ring up your items and place them back into the cart or basket.
4. When the cashier indicates they’re finished ringing up, return to the keypad to pay for your groceries.
5. Take your purchases to the tables we’ve set up at the front of the store for self-bagging. We’ll keep boxes stored under the tables as well as on the shelf for your convenience.

If you don’t have enough items for a basket or cart, we still ask that you wait at the end of the register until the cashier is finished ringing your items up.

You can also help keep your neighbors safe by maintaining distance between yourself and other shoppers when queuing up to check out.

Under normal circumstances, we are very happy to bag your groceries for you, but right now maintaining social distance is critical to keep everyone well and working. Thank you for helping us stay safe.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: COVID-19

New Temporary Store Hours & Other Changes

March 20, 2020 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

Changes to Store Hours
Starting Monday, we are introducing a shopping hour exclusively for our 60+ and medically vulnerable community. We are also temporarily shortening our store hours to allow us to do focused intensive sanitization, in addition to our already stepped-up cleaning.

Here are our new hours.

Monday thru Saturday
8 to 9 a.m. – Reserved for seniors and people who are medically vulnerable
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Open to the general public
1 to 3 p.m. – Closed for midday cleaning and restocking
3 to 8 p.m. – Open to general public

Sunday
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (no change)

In addition, we will be closing the store to the public next Tuesday, March 23, for one day only. This is to allow our staff to take a breath and focus on cleaning and stocking.

We hope this is a good schedule, but if necessary, we may change it again. It’s hard to know what to expect right now for both customer demand and product supply, so we’ll all have to be flexible.

Special Orders
We are temporarily discontinuing our special orders for individuals. We will continue to place orders for our business Owners. Our staff simply cannot keep up with the demand, and our supply is unpredictable. Many people are trying to order products we simply cannot get because of national shortages. When we do receive cases of these items, we need to put them on the shelves to be fair to everyone. We’ll bring special orders back when things stabilize.
 
Bulk Department
To ensure your safety, we will be removing our reach-in bulk foods bins and repacking those items in 1, 2 and 5-lb. packages. Please be patient, as repacking will take time, and we are waiting for delivery of the bags we need.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: COVID-19

COVID-19: Precautions We’re Taking

March 18, 2020 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

We know that people in our community are rightfully concerned about COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, and we take the health of our shoppers and staff seriously.

We already have many procedures in place to reduce the spread of foodborne illness and seasonal colds and flu every year. These include safe food handling procedures, cleaning and sanitation protocols, and training.

In addition, here are some extra steps we have taken to keep our co-op healthy.

  • We’ve stepped up how often we sanitize frequently touched surfaces, including freezer and cooler door handles, shopping cart handles, tables and chairs, bathrooms, counters, and keypads.
  • We have closed our deli seating and discontinued our hot soup and beverage offerings. We are focusing on preparing more packaged soups, sandwiches, salads, breakfast burritos and desserts for you to enjoy at home.
  • We have temporarily discontinued our Co+op Explorers free fruit program. (This program allows children to eat a piece of fruit while their parents shop.)
  • We have temporarily removed testers from our Wellness aisle.
  • We have temporarily discontinued our sampling program.
  • We are reminding employees to be vigilant about proper handwashing and to do it often.
  • As always, we are asking anyone with cold or flu symptoms to stay home. Our employees do earn paid time off to use for sick leave or vacation.

Unfortunately, we have been forced to close our bathrooms to the general public. We must conserve toilet paper and cleaning supplies to maintain sanitary conditions for our employees. Employee cleanliness is vital to ensuring proper food handling and the safety of our shoppers.

Many items remain out of stock, including hand sanitizer, household cleaners, toilet paper and some bulk foods. There are widespread shortages of these items, but we are continuing to order them and will get them back on the shelves as soon as possible.

Shortages of our regular cleaning products mean that we must use some that contain chemicals we wouldn’t normally employ, such as chlorine bleach. We know that some of our shoppers are sensitive to fragrances, and many of these products are scented. We want to assure you that we will return to our usual cleaning supplies as soon as we can get them. In the meantime, we are making sure to use only products approved by the CDC as effective against viruses.

Please know that we are closely monitoring the situation and are following instructions and recommendations issued by public health authorities and government agencies. We will continue to provide information and updates about our COVID-19 response on this blog.

Here are some sources for up-to-date, accurate information on the coronavirus.

  • Alaska Department of Health & Social Services
  • Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
  • World Health Organization (WHO)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: COVID-19

2020 Lend a Hand Recipients Selected

December 27, 2019 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

From a field of 27 applicants, our Owners have chosen 11 local nonprofits to support through our 2020 Lend a Hand register round-up program. A total of 251 (or approximately 6%) of our Owners voted in our survey.

The 2020 Lend a Hand Calendar includes:

  • January – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska
  • February – Green Star of Interior Alaska
  • March – Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund
  • April – NAMI Fairbanks
  • May – Fairbanks Senior Center Meals on Wheels
  • June – Friends of Creamer’s Field
  • July – Calypso Farm & Ecology Center
  • August – Fairbanks Community Food Bank
  • September – Literacy Council of Alaska
  • October – The Folk School
  • November – Breadline/Stone Soup Cafe/Stone’s Throw
  • December is reserved for the Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living. Owners voted last year to continue this tradition.

The 2020 list includes two organizations that haven’t received Lend a Hand funding in the past: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska and NAMI Fairbanks.

We asked our Owners to weigh in on whether or not organizations should be limited to two consecutive years of funding before taking a year off. The vote was 55% to 44% in favor of no limit, so we will not implement that change.

Thank you to all of the 27 organizations that applied! Your work represents so much that is good and positive in our community. And thank you to Owners who took time to vote. Your passion and generosity are proof that Fairbanks truly is the Golden Heart City.

Click here to see past Lend a Hand recipients and donation totals. Links to this year’s applications are available here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: charity, community

Owners: Please Vote for 2020 Lend a Hand Recipients

December 12, 2019 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

It’s time for our Owners to select the local nonprofits that will receive our Lend a Hand register round-ups in 2020.

This year we have 27 applicants, and 13 of them have never received Lend a Hand donations. We invite our Owners to select 11 of these nonprofits for our monthly round-ups. (December is reserved for a giving tree and round-ups for the Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living.)

Please review the applications linked below before completing the Lend a Hand selection survey. Asterisks indicate organizations that have not previously benefited from Lend a Hand. To view prior years’ totals, click here.

To give you time to review the applications, our survey will remain open through December 24th.

  • Alaska Peace Center*
  • Alaska Songbird Institute
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska*
  • Boys & Girls Club of Fairbanks
  • Breadline/Stone Soup Cafe & Stone’s Throw Culinary Job Training
  • Breast Cancer Detection Center
  • Calypso Farm & Ecology Center
  • Crossroads Counseling & Training Center*
  • Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund
  • Fairbanks Children’s Museum
  • Fairbanks Community Food Bank
  • Fairbanks Open Radio*
  • Fairbanks Senior Center Meals on Wheels
  • Friends of Creamer’s Field
  • Golden Heart Grown*
  • Green Star of Interior Alaska
  • Guys & Gals Read*
  • Interior Alaska Cancer Association*
  • KUAC Friends Group*
  • Literacy Council of Alaska
  • NAMI Fairbanks*
  • North Star Community Foundation*
  • Northern Alaska Environmental Center
  • OneTree Alaska*
  • Our 2 Cents Fairbanks*
  • The Folk School
  • Thrivalaska*

Filed Under: Uncategorized

2019 Annual Meeting Report

October 31, 2019 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

Approximately 60 Co-op Market Owners came together for good food, fun, information and inspiration at our 11th Annual Owners’ Meeting on October 19th. Lots of them won prizes, too, including turkeys, $25 gift certificates, chocolate, a basket of Fair Trade goods, and more.

The meeting agenda and financial statements are available here.

Agriculture Report
We learned about the current state of farming in Alaska from Scott Mugrage, president of the Alaska Farm Bureau. He said the number of farms in Alaska is up by 36% at a time when farming is down by 3% nationwide, and Alaska farm revenue is up by 100%. We also lead the nation in female- and veteran-owned farms. Mugrage said that although we currently grow less than 5% of the food Alaska needs, we have millions of acres of potentially farmable land, and some of the best of it is in nearby Nenana. He sees the tremendous growth potential in turning Alaska-grown ingredients into value-added products, such as heat-and-eat meals.

2019 Election results
More Owners voted in our annual Board of Directors election than ever before. We received ballots from 488 of our 3070 eligible voters. That’s 16.5%, many more than the 307 needed to achieve the 10% required by our Bylaws.

• Art Gelvin was elected to Seat B
• Brian Kassof’s appointment to Seat D was confirmed
• Anduin McElroy’s appointment to Seat I was confirmed
• The amendment to our Bylaws was passed, decreasing the number of board seats to seven from nine and the board quorum to four from five.

Thank you to all Owners who voted in our election and to those who attended our Annual Meeting. You are the heart of our co-op!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: annual meeting, board election, community, government

Owners, Vote to Keep Your Co-op Strong

September 19, 2019 By Kristin Summerlin Leave a Comment

Every fall, Co-op Market Owners have the opportunity to help shape the future of the co-op by voting in the Board of Directors election.

Co-op Market Grocery & Deli is a member-owned corporation. By electing members of the Board of Directors, you are participating in the democratic operation and oversight of your cooperative.

The Board of Directors we choose acts on behalf of all Owners. The board oversees our co-op’s financial condition, connects to our Owners, shapes our co-op’s vision and works closely with our General Manager to set long-term strategies. Directors must be current Owners in good standing.

There are three parts to the 2019 election.

  1. Election of a board member.
  2. Confirmation of two appointed board members to serve the remainder of their terms.
  3. Approval of an amendment to the Bylaws. 

There are two ways to vote: electronic ballot or paper ballot.

  • Electronic ballot: Instructions will be emailed after noon today to all Owners with a valid email address on record. Look for an email entitled, “Important: Login Info for Co-op Market Board Election.” It will be sent from “Kristin Summerlin, Co-op Market Election Coordinator,” with the email address noreply@directvote.net. Be sure to check your spam folder, too. If you didn’t receive the email and would like to vote online, please contact Kristin.
  • Paper ballot: If you’d rather vote by paper ballot, they’re available in the store and are being mailed via USPS to Owners with no email address on file. If you receive a paper ballot in the mail, you can bring it to the store the next time you shop, or drop it in the mail.

Click here to view the 2019 ballot, including candidate bios and an explanation of the proposed Bylaws amendment.


IN GOOD STANDING

What does it mean for an Owner to be considered “in good standing”?

Our Bylaws state that Owners must be in good standing to receive Owner benefits. This is especially important for voting in our annual Board of Directors election.

To be considered “in good standing,” Owners must either have paid their full $200 investment or have made a payment of at least $5 toward their investment within the last quarter.

We have made a special effort to help our Owners get up to date in the months leading up to this election. We sent reminder postcards to those who had fallen behind on payments. Cashiers have also been reminding Owners about the requirement. We appreciate those who have responded positively.

Many of the postcards we sent were returned to us as not deliverable. It is critical that we have current contact information for every Owner, so if you haven’t updated your mailing address and email recently, please do. Cashiers may also ask you to review your contact info at the register.

We compiled our voter database from records pulled on September 6th. On that date, we had a total of 4030 Owners. Of those, 3064 were eligible to vote.

For our election to be valid, at least 10% of eligible voters must participate. This means that we will need at least 306 votes.

Remember: Each Owner number gets only one vote, so if you share a number with other members of your household, please consult with them before voting.

Our election ends and results are announced at our annual meeting on Saturday, October 19th, at JP Jones Community Center at 2400 Rickert Street. Doors open at 3 p.m.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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