Greetings Cooperators and Happy New Year,
Welcome to the first member update of 2025! We’re filled with immense gratitude for the incredible journey that brought us to this point, and are reflecting on our history as we make plans for the future. 2025 marks our 50th year of providing healthy goods, food, and services for our community, a milestone that speaks to the enduring strength of commitment to the cooperative principles you’ve helped us build, and is a testament to your support.
Looking back on the most recent few years, it’s clear we’ve come a long way. Our growth has been remarkable: we’ve more than doubled our yearly sales from around $2.5 million at our Main Street location to $6.4 million in sales for 2024! Beyond sales numbers, your generosity shone through with over $4,500 raised in donations to support community initiatives. Thank you for all of your help and helping us feed more of our community.
Behind the scenes but still helping us to do things better, we’ve made significant operational improvements by introducing a new point-of-sale system, updating our payroll systems, and increasing wages and benefits for our staff.
New Freezer & Cooler This Month
The first significant project of the year is the installation of new cooler and freezer systems during the second week of January. Look for signs this week marking on-sale frozen items and temporary locations of dairy goods. We expect the timeline to be something like the following:
- January 13-14: Removal of existing cooler and freezer
- January 15-17: Installation of new dairy cooler, completed by Friday, 1/17
- January 20-24: Installation of new freezer system, completed by Friday, 1/24
During construction, we’ll remain open for shopping, though the cooler/freezer aisle may be blocked off and/or reduced to one-person width. Dairy items will be available in other coolers throughout the store, and signs will be provided as reminders.
Eggs will be made available in the meat cooler, milk in the cooler at the end of the beer cooler, and other dairy in the cooler at the front of the store.
The improvements will benefit us by:
- Replacing aging equipment with modern, more efficient models
- Improved quality of dairy and frozen foods
- Expanded space for dairy and frozen goods
The project’s cost will be covered primarily through Efficiency Vermont incentives and a Healthy Food Finance Initiative Grant with some money coming from a private loan. We expect to “save an estimated 38,700 kWh of electricity and 60,300 pounds of carbon emissions per year,” according to Efficiency Vermont.
FedCo Seed Order Time!
Buffalo Mountain Market/Coop will once again make a group order for Seeds, Potatoes, Onions, Exotics, and Organic Growers Supply. The good news is that once a total of $1200 of products has been ordered from any combination of these divisions, we will receive the 10% discount for any orders for the rest of the year. Note that orders at odd times will have to be arranged with the Market. This includes Trees and Bulbs also.
Catalogs have yet arrived at the store and online ordering can begin. If you are not able to order online, you can fill out a paper order and mail it to Judy Carpenter, 140 Firefly Drive, Greensboro Bend, VT 05842 (easier than keeping track of them at the store).
Our ordering deadline is February 7th and we will expect products to arrive by Town Meeting Day (potatoes in April). Organic Supply orders will be shipped here with the listed shipping costs unless someone is willing to pick them up at the depot in East Dummerston in late February for a much lower shipping price.
Instructions for Group Members
- First get the group order number, available from your group coordinator. There will be a separate number for each division (Seeds; Potatoes, Onions and Exotics; Organic Growers Supply; and Bulbs), if your coordinator has chosen to coordinate an order from more than one division.
- Go to the division in which you are building an order, using the links in the page header. Log in using your own email address.
- When you review your order prior to checking out, click the “Part of a Group” checkbox. Then go to “Checkout” and type in the group order number where indicated. If you are prompted to enter a credit card number, stop. Back up. You did not choose “Part of a Group”.
- You will receive a confirmation email at the address you used to log in. Until your coordinator finalizes the order, however, Fedco cannot confirm receipt of your order.
Group Order Numbers
- Seeds 990013
- Potatoes, Onions, and Exotics 690007
- Organic Supplies 390005
The full catalog is available at www.fedcoseeds.com
If you have any questions, please contact Judy Carpenter at 802-533-2379 (landline) or fireflyjudy140@gmail.com
Changes In Store: National Co-Op Grocers
We’re also excited about our recent acceptance into National Co-Op Grocers (NCG), announced in October. An NCG team will visit in February to help reset the store for new items, which should lead to better pricing and product availability starting in March. More details on that as it unfolds!
Member-Owner Sales
Closing
Thank you for continuing to be a part of our story. Here’s to a year of progress, sustainability, and community! Reach out anytime by coming by the store and leaving a suggestion, or stopping by the website at www.buffalomountainmarket.com and sending us a note. We love to hear from you.
With gratitude,
The Buffalo Mountain Co-op Team