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Seattle area has the nations largest and oldest grocery co-op - https://www.pccmarkets.com https://www.pccmarkets.com. 16 stores and generally doing well. The a

Seattle area has the nations largest and oldest grocery co-op - https://www.pccmarkets.com https://www.pccmarkets.com. 16 stores and generally doing well. The answer to how to keep it going is to run it like a grocery chain with experienced leaders and good board governance. In my experience a lot of the smaller coops I've seen have a problem separating the ideology from the need to run a business, grocery is notoriously low margin so a little waste is all that is needed to sink the buisness. Check https://www.ncg.coop/find-co-op https://www.ncg.coop/find-co-op to find a co-op near you.

itake 4y ago
pccmarket prices are sooo insanely expensive. I wonder who can afford to shop there :-/.
- posguy 4y ago
  Whole Paycheck shoppers On a more serious note, the Seattle Median Income is $120,907 for 2022, see page 4: https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/Housing/PropertyManagers/IncomeRentLimits/Income-Rent-Limits.pdf https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/Housing/Proper...
losteric 4y ago
> The answer to how to keep it going is to run it like a grocery chain with experienced leaders and good board governance. PCC is also known to treat employees relatively poorly, just like grocery chains. There are also complaints about an "old boys" culture, familiar to anyone that worked retail long-term. In the Seattle area, there are better coops like Central Co-op, with similar prices and better worker treatment (since all employees are owners in addition to opt-in shoppers) At this point, PCC is just Whole Foods with higher prices...
- icelancer 4y ago
  >> PCC is also known to treat employees relatively poorly, just like grocery chains. I've heard this about every employer in Seattle. Forever, Costco had a great rep, now you can't mention it anywhere without people shitting on it. Starbucks used to give out benefits and was heralded, now being crapped on. Gravity Payments, lol at the founder's recent news stories. And so forth. A lot of them are with good reason, but I'm pretty sure there's a strong sentiment in this city that "all management is bad management" even in employee-owned stores. Winco is a good example of that. I mention that my employment at Microsoft was pretty good, despite being caught up in numbers-based layoffs, and people harshly wonder how I can speak well of a former employer who terminated my job without warning. It's hard to take all the criticism all that seriously, to be honest.

itake 4y ago

pccmarket prices are sooo insanely expensive. I wonder who can afford to shop there :-/.

posguy 4y ago
Whole Paycheck shoppers On a more serious note, the Seattle Median Income is $120,907 for 2022, see page 4: https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/Housing/PropertyManagers/IncomeRentLimits/Income-Rent-Limits.pdf https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/Housing/Proper...

losteric 4y ago

> The answer to how to keep it going is to run it like a grocery chain with experienced leaders and good board governance. PCC is also known to treat employees relatively poorly, just like grocery chains. There are also complaints about an "old boys" culture, familiar to anyone that worked retail long-term. In the Seattle area, there are better coops like Central Co-op, with similar prices and better worker treatment (since all employees are owners in addition to opt-in shoppers) At this point, PCC is just Whole Foods with higher prices...

icelancer 4y ago
>> PCC is also known to treat employees relatively poorly, just like grocery chains. I've heard this about every employer in Seattle. Forever, Costco had a great rep, now you can't mention it anywhere without people shitting on it. Starbucks used to give out benefits and was heralded, now being crapped on. Gravity Payments, lol at the founder's recent news stories. And so forth. A lot of them are with good reason, but I'm pretty sure there's a strong sentiment in this city that "all management is bad management" even in employee-owned stores. Winco is a good example of that. I mention that my employment at Microsoft was pretty good, despite being caught up in numbers-based layoffs, and people harshly wonder how I can speak well of a former employer who terminated my job without warning. It's hard to take all the criticism all that seriously, to be honest.