Concern for Community. Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members. 0000 Xxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx • Tallahassee, FL 32301 • xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Concern for Community. Cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.
Concern for Community. Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members Big Hollow and future expansion plans Big Hollow has experienced significant growth since we opened in 2007. 2015 was the first year that we did not, while we still remain profitable, we believe that we will not be able to grow much in our current location. It is a great problem to have, but not an easy fix. In anticipation of our need to grow we sent out a survey to the membership which acknowledged that in the next few years we needed to look at expansion. We offered the membership the opportunity 3 choices which they could vote on: • Opening up a 2nd location – possibility in West Laramie or up closer to campus • Moving the existing store to a larger location • Staying in our current location – and finding a way to expand here The membership responded overwhelmingly that they wanted us to stay downtown – in our current location and figure out a way to make it work where we are at. The GM and the BHFC Board of Directors started talking about expansion possibilities over two years ago. We discussed opening up a second location or potentially moving to a location that was not in the downtown area. We put the possibility of expansion to the membership and we OVERWHELMINGLY heard that we need to stay in downtown Laramie and figure out a way to expand where we are at. Staying in our current location turned out to be a challenging possibility. We do not own the building where we are currently located and although our landlord is supportive of us building onto the building. We hired an architect to help us come up with some potential drawings. After carefully looking at the possibility of adding onto our existing spot – we came to the conclusion that that possibility was not really feasible. We did decide to do some repairs and enhancements that would improve the entranceway and also improve the employee safety by adding ground level walk in cooler and freezer. We have shown our dedication to staying downtown by investing in the parking lot adjacent to our building and working with our landlord and architects to potentially add on to the building we are in. Being able to stay in downtown Laramie, in a location close to where we currently located, would support our membership and community. Our constituents have told us they would like to see more inventories, a small delicatessen area with grab-and-go foods and more local foods and goods. We were a...
