1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,520 Hey all you co-operators out there, welcome to Smooth Co-operators, a Belfast Community 2 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:21,600 Co-op program. 3 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:22,920 I'm Emily. 4 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:24,080 And I'm Alessandra. 5 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:29,960 And we're here to talk to you about the cooperative business model and the Belfast Community Cooperative 6 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:31,680 in particular. 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:37,160 And today we are going to talk about principle three, member economic participation. 8 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:41,880 So one of the things that makes co-ops different from other businesses is that they all adhere 9 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,240 to these seven cooperative principles. 10 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:49,760 We are walking you through them and we have come now to the third cooperative principle 11 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:53,120 which is member economic participation. 12 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:59,800 The International Cooperative Alliance defined and established these seven principles over 13 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:03,800 time and I think the last time they revised them was in 1995. 14 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:08,280 And so the definition of member economic participation according to the International 15 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:14,160 Cooperative Alliance is, members contribute equitably to and democratically control the 16 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,520 capital of their cooperative. 17 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:21,320 At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. 18 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:25,800 Members usually receive limited compensation if any on capital subscribed as a condition 19 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:27,320 of membership. 20 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:32,040 Members allocate surpluses for any of the following purposes, developing their cooperative 21 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:36,880 possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible, benefiting 22 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,520 members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative and supporting other 23 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:43,360 activities approved by the membership. 24 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:49,640 So basically when you decide to join a co-op, there's an investment that you have to make. 25 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:54,840 Sometimes for a food co-op say, it's a smaller investment like $200, sometimes for a worker 26 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:59,960 co-op or a more industrial co-op it's like $10,000. 27 00:01:59,960 --> 00:02:04,000 Basically the co-op is coming together to meet the needs of the community and they have 28 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,880 to figure out how much money they need to raise to start meeting those needs. 29 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,440 But in this case, the capital is not the master. 30 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:20,040 The co-op doesn't exist to have a lot of money or to make a lot of money, but rather the 31 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:21,280 capital is the servant. 32 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:27,360 The capital is there to help be a tool to be utilized so that these businesses do well 33 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,480 and end up serving their owners. 34 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,440 There are some businesses where the capital is a little more stagnant. 35 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,180 It's a startup cost and then you kind of run the business from there. 36 00:02:38,180 --> 00:02:43,160 For a consumer co-op it's a little bit different because for us our capital is like kind of 37 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:51,080 constantly flowing in in terms of member participation because people are shopping there on a daily, 38 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,760 weekly, monthly basis. 39 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:58,160 As the co-op makes money and puts money into the bank and there's a surplus, that money 40 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,760 is then the shared capital of the owners. 41 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:07,240 We should talk about ways that owners put capital into the business. 42 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:11,160 Obviously, the first one is going to be by shopping. 43 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,880 People who are actually utilizing the store and purchasing the goods that they need from 44 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,560 the co-op, which was made to provide those for them. 45 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,400 Recently, we put together a new brochure called Ways to Save. 46 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,440 We also have a website with the same name because there is the perception that the co-op 47 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,040 is an expensive place to shop. 48 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:31,040 It's true. 49 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:35,120 Right now, if you wanted to go in and buy an eight dollar jar of sardines, we've got 50 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:36,280 that for you. 51 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:38,240 Some people really appreciate that. 52 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:42,560 Other people would like to buy a two dollar jar of sardines and we also have that. 53 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:47,200 In the Ways to Save brochure, it lets you know that there's all these different colored 54 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:51,640 circles around the store that give you a clue as to what that product is. 55 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,440 Sometimes that means it's on sale with co-op deals. 56 00:03:54,440 --> 00:04:00,640 Sometimes it means that it's always the lowest price that it can be and that's co-op basics. 57 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:05,120 Sometimes it means that our store has decided to put a specific product on sale and that's 58 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,440 called Fresh Picks. 59 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,920 There's also ways to save specifically if you are an owner. 60 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,280 Economic participation, buying groceries at the store. 61 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,480 When you're an owner, you get owner reward points. 62 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,480 For every dollar that you spend, you get 1% of that back. 63 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:23,840 It goes into a little savings account. 64 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:30,200 Once that savings account hits $3, you get to use it on any purchase like a coupon. 65 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,320 We also get 2% back on local food. 66 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:34,440 I love that part. 67 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:35,440 Local products. 68 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:36,440 Super cool. 69 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:41,240 If you shop locally, then your savings account gets bigger faster. 70 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,640 For owners, we also have a pre-ordering program. 71 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:52,160 If there's a special jar of salad dressing or a special rice that you use all the time, 72 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:57,760 you can order it in bulk or order it by the case and then you get a 15% discount on that 73 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:01,440 because we don't have to unpack it and put it on the shelf. 74 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:02,680 We keep it in its box. 75 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,800 We call you up and you come pick it up so there's less labor. 76 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,480 We can extend that benefit to our owners. 77 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:09,480 Here's a secret. 78 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:11,960 I do that for toilet paper all the time. 79 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:12,960 It's the best. 80 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,640 The other thing we wanted to talk about, just to put it out there, we sat down to talk about 81 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:22,080 member participation and created a list of all of the different ways that people participate 82 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:23,080 in the co-op. 83 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,520 The list that we made was long and kind of overwhelming. 84 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:28,760 I don't even think that we got to the end of it. 85 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:33,000 There are so many different ways that owners participate in the co-op and that the co-op 86 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,640 then participates in the community and gives back to its owners. 87 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:43,760 Whatever that flow of money and goods is, the whole intention is to have the money coming 88 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:51,160 into the co-op and the goods leaving the co-op end up in a positive place to try to impact 89 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:56,960 the community in a positive way by buying locally from farmers or buying locally from 90 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:06,680 other producers by having local banks do our payroll, by paying people who work locally, 91 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,320 and then they pay their bills locally and they pay rent locally. 92 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:16,160 A lot of the money that is generated by the co-op goes back out into the community and 93 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:17,320 stays local. 94 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:23,960 Some big box stores are based overseas and all the money that gets spent there leaves. 95 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:28,320 It leaves this county and it leaves this state and it leaves this country. 96 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:33,080 We really try to put that emphasis on that economic participation that the co-op keeps 97 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,600 as much money local as we possibly can. 98 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,920 The systems are not set up to make that easy to do. 99 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:43,560 There are places where we kind of don't have a choice, but anytime we do have a choice 100 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:48,840 and that choice leads to somebody who is local, that's what we try to do if it's for the best 101 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:51,560 of the co-op and for the best of our owners. 102 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:56,960 With that in mind too, it's sort of related because it's about economic participation, 103 00:06:56,960 --> 00:07:02,280 but it's not related, but I feel really connected to the Common Sense Program, which is rounding 104 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:03,880 up at the register. 105 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:09,560 I feel like it's amazing that our owners put forward all of these organizations that they're 106 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:16,320 really passionate about and then the owners vote for the top 12 and those top 12 become 107 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:22,480 the organizations that we do fundraising for every month is a different organization and 108 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:29,360 that changes throughout the year and 100% of those donations that come through the co-op. 109 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,640 We're just sort of the middle person in all of this. 110 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,560 We talk to the organizations, we make a couple posters and then it's really the community 111 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:41,960 that shows up and rounds up at the register, but that's a way that we participate in the 112 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:48,400 economy, the members as a whole, because we are deciding that these organizations and 113 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:53,800 their values are important enough that the co-op supports them and represents them. 114 00:07:53,800 --> 00:08:02,320 $5,000 to an organization who only has a $25,000 annual budget is a huge amount of money and 115 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:05,920 it's like very impressive and very impactful. 116 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:10,800 So impactful for all of those organizations throughout the month and throughout the year. 117 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:15,960 And that's thanks to all of you who come in, shop at the co-op and donate your sense to 118 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:16,960 these organizations. 119 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,600 It's really incredible and we've had some record breaking months recently. 120 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,680 So a huge thank you to everyone who participates. 121 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:26,280 Yeah, it's really amazing. 122 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:32,960 Well, I'd love to shout out a little bit about our core program that is cooperative ownership 123 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:34,760 reaching everyone. 124 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:42,160 So we do have a program that provides an at register discount for people who are receiving 125 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:47,960 some sort of financial assistance from either the state or federal government. 126 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:53,200 So we do require that they are participating in one of these assistance programs, but once 127 00:08:53,200 --> 00:09:00,000 that has been shown to be the case, then people can actually receive a 10% discount 128 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,080 right at the register on their purchases that they make. 129 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:09,000 And I think that has been hugely beneficial to our population here in Waldo County. 130 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,680 If I remember correctly, we used to have other at register discounts, but we don't anymore. 131 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:14,680 Why do we do that? 132 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:18,120 I know many of you will remember when we had a senior discount. 133 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:20,240 Historically, it was every Tuesday. 134 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,640 It became pretty fun for me as a cashier at the time. 135 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:25,800 You made a lot of friends. 136 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,280 People still love you and remember you from those Tuesdays. 137 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,840 Really enjoyed cashiering on those Tuesdays. 138 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:34,240 That was really fun. 139 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:41,040 However, in 2018, the board and operations were doing a lot of looking at our financial 140 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:42,880 health and well-being. 141 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:47,720 What they were seeing is that at register discount that we're providing, particularly 142 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:52,760 with the senior discount, ended up being that we were giving away our profits before we 143 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:54,280 were making them. 144 00:09:54,280 --> 00:10:01,920 This is also the time that the board and operations were very seriously looking at doing an expansion, 145 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:05,680 whether building a new store or renovating the store that we have currently. 146 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:10,840 They were trying to figure out what they needed to do to make that financially feasible. 147 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:15,000 Signing up those at register discounts are those places where we weren't giving ourselves 148 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,720 a choice about what to do with our profits. 149 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:22,280 We were just saying no matter what, they're going to go away instead of after the fact 150 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,520 like, okay, we have this surplus. 151 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:26,320 What are we going to do with it? 152 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:28,800 You just mentioned the core discount. 153 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:35,400 It does mean that any seniors or any owners at all who need to have assistance, we understand 154 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:39,200 that and we totally want them to have that assistance. 155 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,640 But everybody has different income levels and different backgrounds. 156 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:48,280 It does mean that there were people who were getting the discount who perhaps it wasn't 157 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,840 a matter of eating food that day or not. 158 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,360 It was just like a real benefit. 159 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,960 I think too that what's notable for me is that while we were doing the at register discount 160 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:04,280 including the quarterly discount days, we were not able to give out patronage dividend. 161 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:08,040 Patronage dividend means that at the end of the fiscal year when the co-op has made 162 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:14,400 money and there's a profit, the board decide what percentage of that profit goes back to 163 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:15,960 the owners. 164 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:17,720 That is based on how much you shop. 165 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:22,240 The more you shop, the better the co-op does, the more patronage dividend you get back. 166 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:27,600 The whole point of distributing that surplus goes back to this principle where the capital 167 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,960 that the co-op has created is shared capital. 168 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:37,040 Something that I get asked a lot, why do the cashiers ask for my owner number every single 169 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:38,400 time I shop? 170 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:39,720 Every time. 171 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,320 And they do this because of patronage dividend. 172 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:48,600 Basically we want to make sure that what you are spending at the co-op is reflected in 173 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,920 the dividend that you receive at the end of the fiscal year. 174 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:58,480 The cashiers need to be diligent in making sure that they hear the number correctly, 175 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:02,840 they type the number incorrectly, and that they have selected the appropriate name. 176 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:08,040 I apologize to all those people who get frustrated about that, but it really is due diligence. 177 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:12,160 We want you to have the correct patronage dividend at the end of the year. 178 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:18,800 The more you spend at the co-op, the larger your patronage dividend and actually owner 179 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:20,040 rewards. 180 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:24,160 Once we switched over to that a couple of years ago, that starts to make a big difference 181 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:30,280 because if you forget to give your owner number, for example, or you accidentally say somebody 182 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:35,000 else's and they don't ask you what your name is or there's no confirmation that it's really 183 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:41,880 you, you could go on to spend $200 on somebody else's account or on no owner account and 184 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:46,080 then you actually miss out on those owner rewards, which really do add up. 185 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:47,280 I love owner rewards. 186 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:52,000 I'm saving all of mine for the family holiday dinner that I have to be in charge of this 187 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,840 year and hopefully that turkey will be a lot less hit to my wallet. 188 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:01,720 That's amazing because I buy snacks for mine when I don't have cash and I'm like, I wonder 189 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:02,720 if I have owner rewards. 190 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:08,280 You have to spend $3 at a time, so sometimes I buy like a $2.50 thing and then I round 191 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:10,120 up for common sense and I feel good. 192 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,320 I like how that ties in. 193 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:13,320 Yeah. 194 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,880 When people invest in the store, I don't know if we all think about it as like buying our 195 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:22,880 little part of the store or as like being in charge of it, but it really is that. 196 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:26,840 Think about the equity investment and becoming fully vested. 197 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:32,760 There's going to be a lot more talk about this later, but if you pay $15 a year and 198 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:38,880 you need to pay $200, like my quick math tells me that that's about 13 years before 199 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,800 people have fully paid in their share, which is totally fine. 200 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,440 We kept it that way because it felt like an accessible amount of money. 201 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:51,760 It felt like it was on par with what we were asking people to participate in in years past. 202 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,480 When you think about investing in a company, nobody's going to be like, hey, can I become 203 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:57,280 fully vested over the next 13 years? 204 00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:59,960 They're going to be like, you have to pay in nap. 205 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:05,400 We want to have this successful and stable business and that's why we need your investment 206 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:11,320 is because we need you to be emotionally and also monetarily invested in this business. 207 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:17,000 I think that if we can encourage people to pay their equity a little bit sooner or pay 208 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:23,040 it in full if they can afford it, that there really is stability in that because the call 209 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:24,720 doesn't use that money. 210 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:30,720 That money goes into a bank account and is there to show ourselves or show investors 211 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:35,760 or show our accountants that we are a solid business, that we have a lot of backing in 212 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:36,760 our community. 213 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:37,760 Hmm. 214 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:38,760 Okay. 215 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:39,760 What's next? 216 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:40,760 That member economic participation. 217 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:44,360 Is there anything that we're missing about it or are there any questions you guys have? 218 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:50,040 I haven't really gone down this road yet, but it's like, we want to hear from you. 219 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:54,120 I think I want to hear from people in any way that they can, whether they show up on 220 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:55,240 every other Friday. 221 00:14:55,240 --> 00:15:00,560 We do community outreach tabling in front of the store from 11 to two where I set up 222 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:06,600 this beautiful vegetable tablecloth that Emily hemmed for us and we hand out ways to save 223 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:10,760 brochures and annual reports and maybe free snacks and water. 224 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:14,280 I want you to tell me what your favorite bar is. 225 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:16,960 I want you to ask me when cherries are coming in. 226 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:21,320 I want to hear about all your fun ideas about the new store, about paper, about art. 227 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,760 I want you to tell me about anything that has to do with the co-op you used to be a 228 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:26,720 part of in the seventies in New York City. 229 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,840 I so want to know. 230 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:34,040 If you guys have questions about member economic participation or questions about the co-op, 231 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:40,200 it would be super fun to hear from you and you can write to ownership at bellfast.coop. 232 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:47,240 Yeah, and we will read it and then we can write you back or we can answer it on our 233 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:48,840 next podcast. 234 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:56,080 So before we were talking about internal readiness, we were talking about tightening up our discounts 235 00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:01,360 because we were changing or we were starting to focus more on what we could do for expansion 236 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,480 renovation on the store. 237 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:10,440 That process started several years ago and now we are actually in the renovation process. 238 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:14,680 Is there anything you can tell us about what's been going on at the store? 239 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,560 People love videos of cement sliding down the chute into the forms. 240 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:20,560 I know I do. 241 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:24,120 Like I have made amazingly detailed videos. 242 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:29,320 Doug has made videos, our general manager, has made videos just like explaining wonderfully 243 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:34,120 what's happening in the basement and all of those videos get like eight views by our really 244 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:36,360 hardcore watchers and listeners. 245 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:42,360 I made a video where cement is just cascading down the chute into forms and like 400 people 246 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:43,360 have watched it. 247 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:44,360 That was my favorite. 248 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:49,560 Maybe they're just like watching it over and over again or like maybe some out got onto 249 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:53,400 like some kids channel because I know that lots of kids like construction. 250 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:58,760 But right now they're putting up forms for the shop for me walls. 251 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:03,400 I have gotten some super fun education from the guys who are working there and you have 252 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:05,320 to like you dig the hole. 253 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:06,320 You level it out. 254 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:11,440 You do all the fancy laser things to make sure it's level and then you pour these footings 255 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:12,680 at the bottom of the wall. 256 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:18,280 You want a nice wide base for stability, but then that has to dry and cure and we all know 257 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,200 what a wet and wonderful summer it's been in man. 258 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:25,720 So I think took a while and then they build with rebar. 259 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:30,360 They like build the walls on top of that and then in within that wall is going to be the 260 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:31,360 slab. 261 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:35,400 But so right now they're building the forms, which are these like really sturdy boards that 262 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:37,000 hold in all the concrete. 263 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,360 And it's so precise like you don't want to mess this up. 264 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:42,560 The rebar has to be in the right place. 265 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,280 The boards all have to be like in the right order because when you think about how much 266 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:50,520 concrete that is and how heavy it is, it's pretty impressive. 267 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:51,680 So that's outside the store. 268 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:56,640 The cafe footings have also been dug and they're going to start to build those in the next 269 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,920 couple of days out in the back of the store. 270 00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:04,280 We're pouring the footings for the hydraulic lift and that will be outside the store, but 271 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:06,760 it will be fully covered once it's installed. 272 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:08,720 It'll be within the envelope of the store. 273 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:09,720 Yes. 274 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:10,720 Yay. 275 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:16,920 And we buried a 1000 gallon propane tank because propane tanks that are not buried are like 276 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:17,920 pretty dangerous. 277 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:18,920 Yeah. 278 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:19,920 You can run into them. 279 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:20,920 Drive their cars into them. 280 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:21,920 Yeah. 281 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:22,920 That's very scary. 282 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:24,160 So we buried that. 283 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,840 We are building a dumpster pad. 284 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:31,480 If a dumpster gets picked up and put down on asphalt over and over and over again, it 285 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,600 can really grind away the asphalt. 286 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:38,920 So we've built a concrete pad in hopes that it lasts longer, is more durable. 287 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,680 And in the basement, they're doing the framing for the walls because in the basement, we're 288 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:50,280 building a meat, cooler, a meat preparation area of prepared foods, cooler and freezer 289 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:54,920 and a preparation area because right now so much prep for meat and prepared foods happens 290 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:55,920 on the sales floor. 291 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:57,960 But guess what is going to be on the sales floor? 292 00:18:57,960 --> 00:18:58,960 Things to sell. 293 00:18:58,960 --> 00:18:59,960 I love that. 294 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:00,960 Yeah. 295 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:06,000 So we're going to prepare things downstairs and have more space on the floor because 296 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,200 it will allow us to design the store in a way where you can walk through it. 297 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:10,760 It won't feel like a traffic jam. 298 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:11,760 That'll be nice. 299 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:12,760 Yeah. 300 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:13,600 I think so. 301 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:14,600 I'm excited about that. 302 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:15,880 What else is going on? 303 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:20,320 The parking lot flow changed, which I know is really hard and I think it was hard because 304 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,120 parking was a challenge anyway. 305 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:24,120 Mm-hmm. 306 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:25,120 Sorry. 307 00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:26,120 All over the city. 308 00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:27,120 That's true. 309 00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:29,160 It's a good opportunity to shop early. 310 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,440 We open at eight o'clock, get here at eight, we would love to see you. 311 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:34,640 Or shop late, we close at eight. 312 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:39,200 As long as you come in at like 7.30 if you're doing a big shop, we would love to see you. 313 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:45,000 If you come in at 7.55 and you have a lot of shopping to do, we might be sad about that. 314 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,160 But you should definitely shop when you can. 315 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,320 And we have a free curbside pickup service. 316 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,080 It's called Shop for Me. 317 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:55,560 Even through all of this, it's still operating. 318 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:57,520 And it means that you can shop online. 319 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:00,920 You can even go online and only shop the things that are on sale. 320 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,040 And then someone will shop it for you in the store and then you pick it up. 321 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:05,240 Like you don't care of your car. 322 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:06,240 You call. 323 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:07,240 You say, I'm here. 324 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:08,240 And they bring it to you. 325 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:12,840 And it's a nice way to sort of like stay out of the flow of construction, but still 326 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:14,280 buy the food that you want to buy. 327 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:15,480 That sounds pretty great. 328 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:16,600 I'm excited about it. 329 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,440 I haven't actually utilized that service before. 330 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:21,880 Probably because I'm at the co-op every day. 331 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:22,880 Every day. 332 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:23,880 I used to make my kids do it. 333 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,400 So I would be like, oh, you don't like this food that we have for this week? 334 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:29,880 I would love for you to shop for food that you want to eat. 335 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:30,880 I love that. 336 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:31,880 It's pretty adorable. 337 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:33,440 Well, what else do we have coming up? 338 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,360 There's something really fun. 339 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:38,720 You want to tell us about the really fun event that we have in August? 340 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,480 It is August 12th from 12 to 2. 341 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,160 Annie and the Rainmakers. 342 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:45,160 Go check them out. 343 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:49,360 They're like a very high energy, super fun local band. 344 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:50,360 Yeah. 345 00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:51,360 Little rock band. 346 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:52,360 Definitely some dancing. 347 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:56,640 So we'll be at Marshall Wharf on Saturday, August 12th from 12 to 2. 348 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,360 This is a celebration and a dance party. 349 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:01,920 This is the capital campaign was successful. 350 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,080 The renovation is moving right along. 351 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:10,320 This is also one of the first events that we have had publicly post COVID because we 352 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,920 really lost a lot of space inside the store. 353 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,880 Can't close down the parking lot because we need parking. 354 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:18,800 It should be a really fun time. 355 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,480 They've been in this area for a long time and they called us up and said, hey, back in 356 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:27,960 the day, we used to donate our time and Goldie would shut down the parking lot and we'd have 357 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:32,680 a big party and we would do a fundraiser to do this or that thing for the co-op. 358 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,160 And we really want to do that for you guys again. 359 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:36,480 We love your store. 360 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:38,760 We love the owners in the community. 361 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:40,200 We said, make it happen. 362 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:41,200 Yes, please. 363 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:42,920 We will figure out the logistics. 364 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:44,720 So August 12th, Marshall Wharf. 365 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,040 The other fun thing that we're doing is we're going to be at the street party. 366 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,920 So the Belfast Summer Street Party is on July 31st this year. 367 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:53,520 I think it starts around five. 368 00:21:53,520 --> 00:22:00,640 They shut down High Street and there's games and food and music and lots of local businesses 369 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:01,920 have tables. 370 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:02,920 You're going to be there. 371 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:07,680 Again, that's another great place to talk to us, to come get updates, seeing what we're 372 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:11,320 doing and talk to the board of directors. 373 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:16,320 There's other fun things that we're doing and you can find all of those fun things in 374 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:20,680 a very amazing bi-weekly newsletter that the co-op puts out. 375 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:26,200 If you would like to sign up for this newsletter, all you have to do is go to Belfast.coop and 376 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:30,640 at the bottom of that page, there is a place for you to put in your email address and you'll 377 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,240 have a super sweet bi-weekly newsletter that you can go check out. 378 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:40,880 It tells you updates about the renovation, updates about blueberry pre-orders, for example, 379 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,760 anything you want to know about the common sense groups. 380 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:48,160 I would also say that if you are interested in any of the videos that Alessandro and Doug 381 00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:52,520 have put together, the Belfast Community Co-op does have a YouTube page. 382 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:54,240 So it has all of those on there. 383 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:55,480 I would check them out. 384 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:59,880 And next time they pour concrete, you better believe I'll be taking another video of it. 385 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:02,960 I'll watch it. 386 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,680 The other thing that we have going on that we always like to touch on is the Board of 387 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:07,960 Directors meetings. 388 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,400 So those happen on the fourth Wednesday of each month. 389 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:16,120 We have a couple obviously coming up, a whole year full of them actually. 390 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:21,160 The next couple dates will be July 26 and August 23. 391 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:25,760 Those are happening at 6 p.m. in the Abbott Room at the Belfast Free Library. 392 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,040 You can find more information about that on our website. 393 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:32,560 If you'd like to attend via Zoom, there is a link to register for that meeting on the 394 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:34,160 website also. 395 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:35,520 So we've said it a bunch of times. 396 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:36,600 I won't say it again. 397 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:37,600 You know how to find it. 398 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:38,720 All right, guys. 399 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,480 Thank you so much for joining us today. 400 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:45,480 We're really excited to talk about everything that's going on the Co-op and Principle 3. 401 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:50,560 And I would also like to give a big shout out to Vic, who's in charge of the radio station 402 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,520 here in Belfast. 403 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,040 The radio station is in the basement of Waterfall Arts. 404 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,800 And you may have heard of all the ruckus going on around us. 405 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:03,520 We believe there's a summer camp going on and perhaps a little bit of construction here 406 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:04,600 and there. 407 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:09,240 But again, Vic has done an amazing job producing this for us. 408 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:10,240 Thank you, Vic. 409 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,280 And thank you all for joining us. 410 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:19,560 You have been listening to Episode 4 of Smooth Co-operator from the Belfast Community Co-op, 411 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:26,320 hosted by Alessandra Martinelli and Emily Berry, produced at the Facilities of Belfast 412 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:53,700 B errands at the CO-OP.