The good news continues.   We are now up to 176 members.   We are adding to the membership base and bank account daily.  We are grateful for the community support.

Jeff Wheeler and Mike Claflin met with the Hanover Co-op board in late March and received an enthusiastic offer of help from them.   That help will most likely be in the form of an intensive program of mentoring as we work on our business plan and move forward towards staffing and launching a store.   Their support and insights will make an important difference to us.    

A second meeting included the CEO and SVP of Associated Grocers of New England, a cooperative which provides foods products and inventory financing to the Hanover Co-op and many other food stores throughout New England.  They have offered technical assistance to us in business planning and store development and a willingness to fund inventory. The Hanover Co-op has recommended them strongly based upon very good experience with them. 

We have had conversations with several property owners of sites suitable for a store.  We plan to have approximately 10,000 sf of retail space. This size would accommodate dry grocery, bulk foods, produce, meat, frozen food, dairy, prepared foods, vitamins, supplements & body care and general merchandise.    

On the basis of our growing membership numbers, we are also beginning to explore options for financing the store including grants and other soft financing, community financing, supplier financing, lease financing and bank financing as various funding sources that will be combined with membership dollars to make the store a reality.   

We have posted a draft mission statement for the Littleton Co-op on the website and welcome any comments or suggestions that you might have.

It is very important that the steady stream of new members continues to grow.  We urge you to let your friends and neighbors know that we all need to pull together to make this store a reality for our community.  If you know of anyone who is not on our mailing list, please let them know that they may sign up for the newsletter as well as buy membership shares at our website - www.littletoncoop.org. 

Thank you for your interest and support - we'll be updating you monthly!