Co-op declares $2 . 7 million patronage

Details

Published on Friday, April 12, 2013

By: Ken Waddell

myWestman.ca

Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op president Ray Kulbacki had an optimistic outlook at the co-op’s annual general meeting on April 9. Kulbacki confirmed progress on the new $6 million food store and administration building.

“There will be plenty of parking for cars and motorhomes and it will have a deli,” he said. The co-op sold over 383 new memberships in 2012 and continued to donate to 4-H and other youth organizations in the shares.

According to GM Brian Hedley, sales hit a record at $61 million and patronage allocation was set at $2,748,067. Hedley also noted that the co-op depends heavily on the agriculture sector and 2012 was a stronger year than the previous two years. “We are weather dependent and while yields of crops were lower than we had hoped for, prices were higher.”

Hedley said he was excited about the grocery expansion which had been delayed a couple of years but will built in 2013. The new store will be 20,500 square feet and he said, “Tenders will close this month and we hope to be drilling piles soon.” The downtown store is also being sold to be developed into retail and housing.

Hedley noted that the Neepawa Food department has adjusted well to the addition of competitors in the Neepawa market. The meat department sales held fairly well and margins were better than last year. He added that the dinnerware promotion was a fairly popular promotion for the food department as customers were very impressed with the quality.

The Neepawa Gas Bar finished off a very successful year with sales almost $1.5 million over budget. Both margins and expenses were kept in line with the result being a very strong bottom line compared to budget. The car wash continues to be a huge success with sales and profit increasing every year. Last year, with the early spring car wash sales increased quickly.

The Gladstone Gas Bar sales were above budget and margins recovered very nicely this past year.

The Neepawa Home and Farm Centre had a very good year and was above budget with all the building projects going on. Sales were on target, margins were strong and expenses kept well in line. As the farming economy continues to improve there are some very good opportunities in the farm market as well.

The new tandem delivery unit with a forklift attached to the back of the truck was a huge success. This unit has not only improved efficiencies for us but for our customers as well.

Both Agro departments had tremendous sales growth having followed a poor year with the moisture problems we had. Sales were up substantially at both locations as was profits. The custom application department which includes the high clearance sprayers and granular fertilizer applicators also had an extremely successful season.  Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op also completed another year of spraying for Heritage Co-op.