The 76th annual general meeting for the Humboldt Co-op was held May 21.With the franchise's new slogan being "You're at home here", well over a hundred members attended the meeting at the local Royal Canadian Legion hall to see how their store did last year-and how it'll accommodate them in the future.In board president Richard Merkosky's report, it was detailed that total sales increased by $4.6 million to a record-breaking $43.8 million. Allocation to members worked out to $1,370,121, up slightly from the previous year. The report also mentioned that allocation on food and hardware was 1.00 per cent, while being 6.5 per cent on fuel, working out to 7.5 cents a litre."We kill in fuel," said Beryl Bauer, district director of the Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL). Speaking of the Co-op's ability to bundle fuel and crop supply purchases, Bauer added that the C-Store is the "Cadillac of convenience stores."Despite last year's boast-worthy successes, expenses were up, due to the renovation of Lanigan's food store last year and the company's total liabilities were up by over $5.5 million from 2011, due to the new food store in Humboldt. But these numbers aren't alarming, as Merkosky mentioned that 2012 was a great year for the Humboldt Co-op, with the Financial Post ranking the FCL as the 51st largest company in Canada, comparable to General Motors of Canada and ahead of Saskatchewan's own PotashCorp.With that in mind, members are curious to know what the future holds for the local chain. Phil Griffeth, general manager of the Humboldt Co-op, mentioned the aging C-Store in his report, and explained to members that land had been purchased in front of the city's new food store for a revamped convenience store, adding "We're watching the market. Humboldt needs to grow a little more but we have land in place." The attention then shifted to the new grocery store on Highway 5. Griffeth made it clear to members that the store would be opening "soon" but declined to give a specific date.He explained his vague answer, saying it wouldn't be in the best interest of the store for the competition to know its opening date.What he would say is that the store's expansion would be apparent in more ways than one, from the ethnic aisle to the produce section. Griffeth said the co-operative would be keeping in line with trends, from the store's own line of organic products to a newly expanded gluten-free section of foods. He also said they're currently working on hiring additional staff for the new building, the old location on Main Street being bought out by neighbouring store, Office Experts.The food store's discontinued grocery delivery service was touched upon, with Griffeth saying it wouldn't be reinstituted due to lack of interest from members. He explained that the cost of having the delivery service forced the store to double the price of it, with deliveries dropping in half soon afterwards."Based on these economics, we wouldn't go back to those types of services," Griffeth said, mentioning taxi services around town can be used instead.Towards the end of the meeting, service awards were handed out to dedicated employees of the Humboldt Co-op. Among the honourees was Vi Fritsch, who's been an employee of the Humboldt food store's meat department for over 25 years. Leaving on a high note, Bauer assured members that this year's patronage payment will be as good as last year. Referring to the company's new slogan of the Co-op chain being a second home for its customers, Bauer said, "In small town Saskatchewan, we know what that slogan means. When you come into our stores, you're not bumping into employees, but friends."
