Village residents purchase Co-op building

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

They say, “it takes a village” and residents of the Village of Standard proved that saying to be true in this past week.
Despite the village having faced some hard losses this past year, starting with the loss of the K-12 Standard School in May 2017 and more recently the long-standing Standard Co-op closing its doors this past March after approximately 40 years in operation, villagers have found a way to pull together and fight for what they believe in.
A group of locals, who have dubbed themselves “The Broadway Group,” due to the former Co-op store being located on the street The Broadway, have taken it upon themselves to put their money where their mouths are and to purchase the old Standard Co-op building with a common goal of it first and foremost remaining a grocery store.
“There has been a store in town since like the ‘20s … I think it was in 1974 when the Co-op was formed. We’ve never been without a store,” said Ed Christensen, one of the members of the group. “The whole purpose of this is to make it a store again … It’s a done deal, we take possession on June 8.”
The Standard Co-op, which opened on Sept. 15, 1974, officially closed on March 17 following a member vote on Feb. 22 to voluntarily dissolve the co-operative under the provisions of the Alberta Co-operatives Act, 2001.
At the time of the meeting, board members and staff outlined the store’s financial history, noting that the store was already down $20,000 in sales compared to the previous year, and sales had dropped approximately 23 per cent since 2013.
Numbers which do not frighten community members when it comes to them placing a value on having a community grocery store in the Village.
“I think with the right model; a person can make it …. we feel that there is enough base around here to make a living for someone to actually own and operate a store and make a living from it …with (the Co-op) having closed it might have woken some people up to say ‘hey, maybe we should support the local guys’,” said Christensen, stating that he himself, and most likely others as well, have recently felt the sting of having to travel the 40-kilometer one-way trip to Strathmore just to purchase a brick of butter or a jug of milk.
Several concerns were vocalized about the importance of having a grocery store in town including the fact that following the closing of the school, without those two essential community resource centres, there was something left to be desired in incentive for new families to move to Standard. Not to mention the fact that without a store open, the Village of Standard itself would not receive much tax revenue from it. A source of employment in the town would be lost. And Standard’s large aging senior citizen population have recently had trouble getting groceries, as many of them had previously been relying on the convenience of having a grocery store easily accessible and they can’t always leave town to pick up groceries from larger centres, for various reasons.
Currently, to make the store fully operational, the group will need to purchase completely new refrigeration units. The older models that the store does have are open faced without doors – allowing cold air to escape into the store instead of being contained with the products, and in turn were racking up electricity bills to a speculated $2,200 per month.
The group has recently received quotes to replace the coolers and is in the process of looking at different options to replace the units with more updated and economical versions.
At the time of the dissolution of the Standard Co-op, a liquidator was hired to liquidate all inventory and assets, including cleaning equipment, a forklift, and meat cutting equipment. Fortunately, the group purchased both the meat cutting equipment and the forklift for future use in the store, and shelving units were left in place.
“We are going to be looking for either a renter to run the store, or if the right person comes along perhaps they would want to purchase it off us. We are not necessarily there for the long run, but we will be if we have to continue owning it to ensure it stays a store,” said Christensen, adding that they have already had several interested parties step forward about possibly renting the store once the refrigeration units get replaced.
“The purpose of buying the store was not to re-sell it and make a bunch of money, that’s not the purpose of it, it’s just to keep it here in town and the immediate goal is to get a store going” he said.
Within the Broadway Group, everybody put down an equal amount of money ensuring that everyone has an equal share and an equal vote in the dealings with the store.
However, whoever rents the space out can do whatever they want regarding what they carry in the store, if they will carry alcohol or not – which is legal to carry in a grocery store in Alberta within a town that does not already have an existing liquor store, if approved by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC), or if they will continue to offer lunch-time menu options such as soup and sandwiches.
At the end of the day, the community pulled together to save a building and a business that they need. Although the initial process of purchasing the building is complete, there is still a long road ahead to ensure the proper setup of a modern grocery store.
“We’re just the people who originally came forward, but we are quite sure that there are others that would come forward, and we might need their help down the road, in case expenses occur that we need a little bit more help. There are still opportunities for people to get involved with this and to help,” said Christensen, adding that due to the nature of how quickly they had to move things along, unfortunately not all community residents and surrounding locals knew about the opportunity or had time to join, but that there will be future opportunities for people to step up to the plate and help.
“We’re just a bunch of people who care about our community, and I know we’re not the only ones,” he said. “I think mainly we just need a store. We need a hub. We need a gathering place, so to say, in the community.”