Under My Hat - June, 2009

—by Helen DuFault, General Manager

Leadership Changes

Living in Minnesota, where we experience changes all year long, means we are not surprised by change. It can be cooking hot one day and cold the next—all the more to not let us get too complacent.

Hampden Park Co-op also has had many changes this past year. We have moved into a larger space. We are about to buy a building. And the store will have a new General Manager some time in the coming months. I will be stepping down as the General Manager as of June 30, the end of the fiscal year. During the time of the search for a new manager, a managerial team (from current staff) will be in place for the daily operations of the store.

My affiliation with the co-op started in the early ‘70s. I remember going to People’s Pantry in the West Bank area, then to the first co-op, North Country. It wasn’t long before St. Anthony Park Foods opened across from the St. Paul campus at the current location of Mim’s Cafe. This time also gave birth to the heady days of co-ops that were located in many Twin Cities neighborhoods.

It is interesting to note that the co-ops eventually took ideas from the grocery stores, BUT the grocery stores took co-op ideas, too. In the early days all fruit was packaged in over-wrapped trays at the big stores—but one could buy a single orange or apple at the co-op. That really appealed to the students. The idea of less packaging and the availability of bulk items had further appeal. And folks felt a sense of control over how they were eating. Now, all grocery stores have natural food and organic sections. How many of you remember organic People’s Company Bread for 39¢ a loaf?

Volunteers were the mainstay for the running of the store in those early days. For various reasons, in more recent years, most of the co-ops have decided to have paid staff. Hampden Park Co-op is an exception. This model is strong enough that it is part of our mission—and the mission has not been changed up to this time. Our store has 450+ volunteers/month. We also have around 25 employees, many part-time, which gives us needed flexibility.

About 17 years ago a values statement was drafted as a framework for Hampden Park Co-op. Value Issue 1 stated that people involved with HPC are a community held together by common basic values in the various aspects of procuring food. Value Issue 2 discusses products that our shoppers should expect to be able to purchase: organic, unprocessed, fresh, locally grown, healthful, and minimally packaged. Value Issue 3 states that in our collective efforts to make the world a better place we have an impact in the relationships we develop, the products we buy, and our actions in this community and beyond.

How do we do this? Our Framework states that we do it by:

1. ARTICULATING the VALUES that we jointly hold and assuring that our business practices, governance, and relationships are guided by these values;
2. MODELING the RELATIONSHIPS that we build with each other, and the different way that we choose to run our business;
3. Applying ECONOMIC INFLUENCE by carefully selecting the products we sell and the relationships we develop with suppliers;
4. EDUCATING and INFORMING community members about their consumer choices;
5. Developing NETWORKS with other organizations that hold similar values;
6. Taking advantage of emerging OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTION when members of the Hampden Foods (now Co-op) community believe it is important.

I believe that many of you shoppers are here for a sense of community. Several of you come in daily for, as you have stated, your “co-op fix.” I believe that is a real compliment to our store and our place in this community. WE are your community store. It is my dream that Hampden Park Co-op continues to stay true to its values and roots. We ARE different. Let’s be proud of it.

It is my plan to be a part of the store in the immediate future. I will still do daily tasks and hopefully share ideas about food. Let’s look forward and give our full support to OUR new manager.