maple street co-op

Editorial by Ruth Parnell
From "Maple Street Co-op News", Oct/Nov 2006

Welcome to another edition. As you'll see from Lori Sturtz's cover story ["The High Cost of Low Prices"; see Environment features], Maleny locals are staying away in droves from the Woolworths supermarket in town.

Lori's photograph on page 4 shows how few cars are parked there even at a busy time, and it's rumoured that the supermarket's staff are asked to park in the front carpark so it looks like there are more shoppers than there actually are! On her return from taking this photo, Lori popped into the Supa-IGA and it was packed! The IGA's Rob and Samantha Outridge are certainly on a winner with their Community Benefits Club which has captured the imagination and gained the support of a multitude of shoppers in our region. Woolworths must be worried if it's about to launch a "price attack" on the Maleny Supa-IGA, as TRN columnist Michael Berry suggests.

I'm happy to report that your Co-op, both shop and Club, is thriving thanks to increasing levels of support from members and visitors. Just how thriving it is we'll see when the audited accounts are available in October ahead of the 28 November annual general meeting. You'll be able to pick up the official AGM Notice and reports by the end of October.

Look out, too, for the shop and Club surveys and even for the odd director wanting to interview you about how you think the Co-op is faring and what it should be doing to better serve our members.

Until next time,
Ruth

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", October/November 2006; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]