Sustaining Community is a Daily Habit

There is only one thing that can make our community store sustainable, and that is enough revenue to cover all of our costs.  We are not there yet.

How do we make that happen?  Longer-term there are many things, including continuous improvements within the store, reaching new shoppers, and finding whatever additional cost reductions we can.  Short-term, it is up to us to continue to Rediscover ways to shift our food spending to our store from elsewhere, and to Share our commitment to our community and its anchor store with friends and family.  Our collective word of mouth is the strongest and quickest way to advertise while we continue to build strength.  We cannot let up on this commitment.

The great news about our potential refinancing is so exciting, and if we are able to make it happen it will make it that much easier to make our monthly debt payments to the new lender.   

This news does not mean we can let up on our campaign to Declare our Interdependence by committing to spending as much of our food dollars as we are able to at CreekSide, and to bring in other shoppers by sharing our commitment with them.  If we want our co-op to survive - and thrive! - we have to continue to support it, after good news or bad.  

And if we want to encourage a new lender to replace our existing mortgage, we have to continue to demonstrate our commitment to CreekSide, now and in the future.

 Maybe it was a sense of relief from the good news about the refinancing, or the great week we had previously, or simply a slower week after a strong week, but sales returned to levels we haven’t seen in many weeks.  Are we ready to turn this around?

 

According to noted behaviorist Dr. Jeff Kaplan, the most successful approach to changing a habit is by taking small steps toward a new way of doing something.  Perhaps you can get started, or continue, by looking at your shopping list for the week.  Pick one or two items that you usually buy elsewhere, and decide to find those items at CreekSide. 

For the next 30 days, buy another item at Creekside that you usually buy elsewhere and each time you run out of something or need something special at home, think CreekSide first.  We’ll be posting encouragement in our social media along the way.