7-22-10

Walpole Developers Test Grocery Coop Concept

August 3 Public Meeting at Fall Mountain High School

By Chuck Bingaman

            Walpole residents seeking to build a multi-use commercial development off Rt. 12 will hold a public meeting Tuesday, August 3 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Fall Mountain High School to test interest in their including a coop food store along the lines of such stores in Hanover and Littleton.

            Jack Franks, Jayson Dunbar, Jedd Pellerin and Rob Kasper have been meeting with management teams from the Hanover Coop and the Littleton (NH) Coop to learn about their organizational steps and keys to their market successes.  And Hanover Coop’s Manager Terry Applebee will join in the August 3 meeting to discuss how a coop operates and how Walpole might create one.

            Why attend the meeting? Kasper said that those in attendance would find out about the advantages of being a member of a coop and how a coop might benefit the community.  The Hanover Coop, he noted, now has 40,000 members and does $70 million in sales annually.  It has three stores, over 40 employees, nearly 30 of which are full-time with benefits.   See www.coopfoodstore.com.

            “Attendance at the meeting will show us the level of interest in the area. If a large number of people express interest, we’ll know it might be possible here.  Of course,” Kasper added, “we will also do an independent market analysis to help us decide how to ‘size’ the store and to get ideas on how to stock it.”

            Kasper pointed out that the successful coop stores up and down the Connecticut Valley emphasize the offering of locally produced food but also have contracted with distributor Associated Grocers to supplement local foods and to offset their seasonality. 

            Franks added that a key element in the success of the other coops has been their willingness to listen to what members and customers want and to respond effectively. He added that the Hanover Coop helped the Littleton Coop get started—it opened in May 2009—and would be willing to assist the Walpole project if it goes farther. “Actually,” according to Franks, “we would have an advantage over where Littleton started because we already have a prime building site—our land on Rt. 12.  And a coop in Walpole would fit in so well with our “agri-tourism” tradition of ‘top-shelf’ local food produced by Alyson’s, Burdick’s, Walpole Creamery, Westminster Meats and many others.”

            The building site the developers are eyeing for a possible coop would be the lot closest to Rt. 12 using the new access road, Red Barn Lane, just south of the new Tractor Supply store.  While details are merely concepts for now, the developers released an artist’s rendering of a possible coop store that included an open area in the front for possible growing of vegetables, herbs, etc. and possible gardening projects for area children.

            Jayson Dunbar noted that the group has been in discussion with the Vermont Food Hub about possible networking or more with the site.

            Franks summed up the planning to date as “an effort to see if we can do something here locally to save people and the community money, to save fuel along with our carbon footprints, and to create some jobs.  Those having really been the driving forces to get us to start looking into this.”

            Franks and his development team earlier this month filed a site plan application with the Walpole Planning Board that envisions building 48 condominium units in three buildings to the east of Rt. 12, possible professional offices, restaurants or other commercial buildings in a second lot and an undetermined use of the lot nearest Rt. 12, now the site of the possible food coop.  All of the land in question is in the Walpole commercial zone. The site plan application will be up for public hearing and possible approval of the plan are set for the August 10 Planning Board meeting at 7:00 in the Walpole Town Hall.

                                                            --30--