By General Manager Matt Stanley
We’re embarking on a truly grassroots effort to build co-op equity so we can make our dream store a reality and keep as much of the financing for the project as local as possible. Now, three weeks into our owner investment campaign Together We Grow we’re almost halfway to raising enough investments to build you a bigger store!
The goal of raising at least $1.5 million in owner investments will support our much-needed expansion. Now, Astoria Co-op Grocery is asking you, if you haven’t yet invested, to step up and bring the campaign the rest of the way home by October 31st. This is a rare opportunity to see your dollars at work growing a local business that brings tremendous benefit to our community.
We’ve revealed the exterior plans for the new store. We are digging into the design of the interior. Visual images make the new store tangible. Picture yourself choosing a parking space out of the 50 available!
Together We Grow is a capital campaign based on the offering of preferred shares to Astoria Co-op owners that are Oregon residents. Preferred shares, although not a term most of us are familiar with, are quite straight forward.
First, each co-op owner invests in their common share with the co-op. Most of us are paying off the $200 common share in $25 increments. This equity has and will continue to be instrumental in growing our business and making all the things that make the co-op special accessible to more and more community members. Common shares are non-interest bearing and have no par value.
The Co-op’s Series A Preferred Shares are an opportunity for co-op owners to invest in our expansion project and earn an annual dividend. Each preferred share has a par value of $100 and the Co-op is issuing (through a registration with the State of Oregon) 25,000 preferred shares.
The minimum investment involves the purchase of 25 shares, or $2,500. These owners will receive an annual dividend of 3%. Owners who purchase 100 or more shares ($10,000 or more) will receive an annual dividend of 4%.
That’s the nuts and bolts of how this works. Co-op owners receive a reasonable return and the co-op strengthens its balance sheet enough to make the project feasible. Our minimum goal to move the project forward is $1.5 million, or the sale of 15,000 shares. But we’ll need your help to make it happen.
Why sell all the shares? Because it means the co-op can rely less on external financing to complete the project. More dollars stay local. More local co-op owners get to shop and benefit from the very thing that they invested in. We don’t get many opportunities to put our money to work right in our very own community. This is your chance. I am investing. Others in my extended family are investing. Many other owners have already committed their investments. Join us in our cooperative effort to expand this community treasure!
Contact me at matt@astoria.coop or on my cell at 503-791-5692. Together we can hit our goal and move forward to growing a bigger and better store together!