Hello Mariposa member-owners & shoppers! Elise, your Owner Services Coordinator here. If you’ve emailed the Co-op in the past six years, chances are I’ve been the person who emailed you back. You can find me leading new member-owner orientations, sometimes cashiering, and making sure that your feedback about the store makes its way to the right people. It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post, but we have several updates for you all so read on!
The Bulk Section
The most recent additions to our bulk section!
Questions about the bulk section are the number one inquiry I’ve received over the past year or so. As you may have noticed, we are getting the section back to its former glory and we’re so excited about it! To give a bit of context around why it’s taken so much time, at the beginning of the pandemic we didn’t know a lot about COVID-19 and wanted to reduce contact with high touch surfaces like the bulk bins. As time passed, we learned that surface contact is not the main way it spreads, but we also determined that the bulk section needed to stay fully prepackaged for a couple of reasons:
The bulk section was and is one of our most crowded sections of the store. To reduce crowding and allow for social distancing, keeping it prepackaged allowed folks to move in and out quickly at the height of the pandemic.
As restrictions eased, we had hired a lot of new people and needed to get everyone up to speed on what would return to the bulk section and how to fill it.
We appreciate your patience as we work to get things back to a sense of normalcy. For now, the scoop bins will remain pre-packaged, but the good news is that we are actively looking into purchasing more of the hanging bins to fill with bulk favorites as they are a better option for the store.
At this time, we are not bringing bulk herbs and spices back. Because of our small store, the grocery team had to make a difficult decision based on low pre-pandemic sales, shopper demand for other products, and limited shelf space. However, you may have noticed an increased selection of small packaged spice options from Frontier Co-op and an expanded selection of loose-leaf teas and medicinal herbs. We appreciate all of your feedback and will continue to assess if and how we can bring back bulk herbs and spices in the future. Questions? Feel free to email me at ownership@mariposa.coop.
Special Orders
At the beginning of the pandemic, the supply chain was completely shocked with people buying more than normal and continued that way long after the “panic buying” subsided. Because of frequent distributor out-of-stocks and the increased workload of our buyers, we put special ordering on hold. When things began to even out, we had hired a whole new buyers team and felt we needed to give them some time to figure out their duties before introducing special orders back to the store.
As we work to bring this benefit back, we’ll start with taking bulk orders for items available in-store only. We hope to bring back all special order options, but starting small will allow us to make sure the system works for both our member-owners and our buyers. We anticipate late September/early October for an official return of special ordering!
(Bummed about bulk herbs and spices not returning? You’ll still be able to special order 1 lb bags of your favorites!)
New Hires
Haley (they/them) is our new Assistant Grocery Manager!
The Co-op is doing a lot of hiring! We’ve had many new folks join us in the past few months and I’m sure you’ve noticed several new faces around the store. Because we hired so many new people at once, there is a learning curve as folks get trained. As a result, the store isn’t always looking fully stocked with your favorites. However, we want to assure you that all of our staff, new and current, are working hard to make sure we are providing the best selection of products possible as our sales rise back to pre-pandemic levels. Thank you for your patience as we work through this transition and get folks trained and settled in their new positions.
We also wanted to note that our non-admin and non-manager staff are in union negotiations and have been for a few months! This includes cashiers, stockers, and receivers.
Know anyone looking for a job? We’re still hiring for several positions! Take a look and apply either in-store or online.
Working Members
We haven’t had working members in the store for the entirety of the pandemic. This started as a safety measure and is still part of the reason we haven’t welcomed folks back in this capacity. While we miss the program and the folks who regularly helped out around the store, we don’t have plans to bring the program back to its original form for the time being. While we have learned to manage the store with pandemic restrictions, our staff are now in union negotiations. During this time of contract negotiations, major changes to store operations and policies cannot be made. Until the contract has an explicit clause about working members in-store, the program will be on hold.
However, we will still allow folks to earn working member credit helping out at events, at partner organizations in the future, and as Board members!
Round-up for Change
The People’s Fridge on 52nd is our September Round-Up recipient!
As you may have noticed, we did not have an open application period for the Round-up for Change cycle this year. We’ve had over 100 applicants from the past three years, and while so many have aligned with our values, there are only so many months in the year that we can raise money for these organizations. Our staff-led Education and Outreach committee that typically oversees the selection process determined that we would look through past applicants and other groups doing good work around the city so we could prioritize those that have not received money yet. Currently, our full staff is voting for our next recipient, which will receive funds from October-December. We’re excited to raise money for a longer period of time and for our staff and member-owners to learn more about each organization during this extended period.
Co-op Open House
Save the date! We’re excited to gather with member-owners and other community members on Thursday, September 30th at The Cedar Works! We’ll meet outside to share some food, get Co-op updates, have a chance to ask questions to management, meet the Board and staff, and meet some of our vendors and partners. We’ll be announcing more details soon, but you can RSVP here.
As a note, we are continuing to assess the rise in COVID-19 cases and will make changes to the event as necessary.
Front End reset
Recently, the Co-op finalized its purchase of a new Point of Sale (POS) System. Our current system, while meeting many of our needs, lacks a lot of desired functionality both from a customer and staff perspective. At the same time, we plan to reset the register check-out area to give it an updated look and use the space more efficiently. There are a lot of moving parts to this project and once started, it will likely require a short store closure to complete. We are hopeful it will be finished before the end of the year and we will keep you updated as we know more specific details.
Thanks for reading this far! If you have any questions, please email ownership@mariposa.coop and I’ll do my best to make sure I get you an answer. We appreciate your patience as we move through this transition period for Mariposa, and we thank you for your support over the past 18 months! This is YOUR Co-op and our member-owners are the reason we can keep doing what we do. See you around the store soon!
In cooperation,
Elise Greenberg and Mariposa Staff