New Store News 10/1/08

Design:

Our schematic design, as you know, was presented to the membership in late August. Since then, 3T, our architects, John Bishop, our construction manager, the Collective Management Team (CMT), the facilities committee, the site engineers, and P.J. Hoffman, a consultant from the national cooperative group have been shuffling our store contents around to different ends. The goals are to maximize the retail space and customer movement, energy efficiency, staff efficiency, equipment cost, non-retail use, etc.

Last week we received the current plan and costs, and the committee began discussing ways to keep the costs down as our desires do not match our pocketbooks. This phase of construction happens to everyone, we’re told, and we’re confident that we can make some decisions that will retain the goals we have set and also fall closer to the amount of money that we are comfortable trying to raise. We are still on schedule to finalize the design, and hope to bring you the final plan sometime in November.

Funding:

Our loan task force has sent out the first batch of loan requests and will be contacting you shortly. We plan to send the remainder out in waves over the next two months. We hope that all who are able to loan the co-op money in these trying times will do so. Investing in a local successful business might just be the best way to get through what is happening to our economy right now. We hope to be able to raise $2 million dollars from our shareholders. We are counting on you to make a generous loan.

Membership Matters:

Our August shareholder drive brought in a record number of new members. To support Co-op Month now and in the future, the co-op will be having another drive during the month of October.

Building Green:

We are still aiming for LEED certification. As far as energy consumption, we are planning daylight harvesting, reclaiming heat from cooling generators and reusing it, and on demand hot water heaters where possible. All of our consultants feel that a geothermal heating and cooling system will not be efficient in a building of our size, so we continue to strive for the highest energy efficiency and most sustainable practices we can afford, and we will not lose sight of our mission.

What’s on the schedule next for owners?

Ø Come to a meeting. Stay tuned for more info.

Reaching us….

Ø Email Cindee Lolik at cindee@hwfc.com or Lynne Lekakis at kandL@capital.net with suggestions or concerns. Drop thoughts in the project suggestion box in the front of the store under the project timeline and posted news. We are always delighted to hear from you!