GM Report

by Lindy Bannister, General Manager

In my report last year, I discussed the tremendous interest the conventional grocery industry has taken in what we at The Wedge have been doing for decades. One year later, mainstream mass-merchandisers have jumped well on board with the organic and local food movements. Wal-Mart and Target have become aggressive organic product purveyors.

Questions are being asked about what that will mean to us. We applaud the creation of more avenues to high-quality food for consumers. Yet we are concerned about the capacity of the supply chain to bring enough products to meet the increased demand in a very short period of time. We worked hard last year to expand the size of our wholesale warehouse, Co-op Partners, in anticipation of this growth. We have partnered with many smaller, local producers to insure that we have product available for the store, as well as for the other co-ops and restaurants that we supply. It has been rewarding indeed to be part of the development of these relationships. Our product lines have expanded to include new frozen, dairy and dry grocery items as well as the certified organic produce that has been our focus from the beginning.

We rolled out our new logo this year and with that comes the gradual change of the look of the inside of the store. You will have noticed the newsletter redesign. Major changes have been made to the membership materials and the website.

Speaking of the website, we are very pleased to announce that as of October 23rd, our new general merchandise website Wedge WorldWide is open for business! We have fielded many requests over the years for a method by which members can access products that our General Merchandise department brings to the store, without actually coming into the store. That is now available. There will be constant updating of products and product lines, so check back often. This year you may be able to do much or all of your holiday gift shopping without fighting the crowds.

The Wedge has enjoyed another very healthy financial year that has enabled us to continue our commitment to working in our community. We participated in the State Fair this year to uphold our pledge of supporting and promoting local farmers.

We helped coordinate an Organic Dairy Forum with national players from across the U.S. We also are very proud of initiating, with the help of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Sow the Seeds Fund. This project will provide ongoing support for sustainable agriculture.

It has been an invigorating year with plenty of projects completed and many more to work on in the following months.

~ Lindy Bannister