by Anya Firszt, General Manager
Hello dear Owners; Hello May
What does May have in store for you this year? Perhaps digging in the dirt, grilling in the backyard, riding bicycles, and baking (and eating) rhubarb pie are at the top of your list? They are for me!
As for what you can find at the Co-op, at all three of our stores we have locally sourced and organically grown plant starts from West Star Organics and Voss Organics for your garden or perhaps a Mother’s Day gift idea (wink, wink). We also have oodles of Purple Cow Organic compost growing mixes and soil enhancing products to help your garden grow even better!
Wellness wednesday 15% off
This month our Wellness Wednesday program offers Owners 15% off your wellness and body care purchases (instead of the usual 10%). Stock up on May 3 and save an additional 5%!
festival season
May is also the kick off month of the 2023 summer festival season. This month you can celebrate WORT’s 47th year of radio broadcasting at WORTstock on Sunday, May 21 from 11:00am–7:00pm at Warner Park on Madison’s northside.
The next festival on the 2023 season line up is the Marquette Waterfront Festival celebrating its 34th year of bringing live music to the near east side of Madison. Join in the fun on June 10–11 at Yahara Place Park.
Operational updates
The North bathroom and break room renovation is done, and it looks marvelous! We now have four gender-neutral bathrooms for customer (and staff) use and a remodeled break room for staff. The project team did a stupendous job managing the work while we were open for business; the project was completed on time and on budget. My sincere thanks and appreciation to them for a job well done.
Inclusive Trade Program
As a reminder, the rollout of the Inclusive Trade Program is happening this month. This program is designed to highlight products from companies owned, controlled, and operated by individuals from underrepresented groups. A vendor will be considered an Inclusive Trade vendor if it is at least 51% owned, controlled, and operated by a person or persons who belong to one or more of the following groups:
- Women
- Black
- Indigenous, and/or Persons of Color
- LGBTQIA+ people
- Veterans
- Persons with disabilities
Look for the new Inclusive Trade icon that will be added to their products’ price tags on the shelf: a gold circle with “I” to indicate Inclusive Trade. We are also adding a purple square with an “L” to indicate local to product price tags.
We believe that highlighting these vendors will help customers more easily identify products in line with their values, drive more business to these vendors, and help us make progress toward our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals for Willy Street Co-op’s vendors and customers.
Fiscal Year Update
We are in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year and we are seriously focused on wrapping up our planned projects before the end of the year, which is on July 2. Additionally, we have been developing the FY24 operations and capital expenditures budgets over the last couple of months. In mid-May, our Finance Committee will have an opportunity to review the draft budgets and provide input before recommending approval to the Board of Directors at their June meeting. The approved budgets will be printed in a future Reader for your review. Stay tuned.
Special Store Hour May 29
All stores are open until 7:00pm on Monday, May 29 in observance of Memorial Day.
Until next month, get out there and have some fun.