From a staff perspective, a move will bring many exciting changes. A bright, new building will offer a pleasant ambiance in which to conduct our daily activities. Our new store will offer a clean area for stocking product, free of chipping paint, bubbling linoleum, irritating fluorescent lights, and horrible smells.

The current back-stock area commonly fills with cigarette smoke from the hostel upstairs making for a very unpleasant working space. Laundry water has showered staff and back-stock product on numerous occasions; this has led to decreased efficiency due to staff having to catch the water, and clean up after the flood, reorder products, and a strange smell now inhabits the annex—similar to that of toe jam. Imagine going to work in an office smelling of toe jam—when you are not a podiatrist.

A new store creates the prospect of having a second register. This will increase the speed at which staff can check out customers, and will alleviate some of the stress of being the only cashier when there is a line of 10 people. It is frustrating for customers having to wait in line for extended periods of time, and unfortunately, cashiers are often the receivers of frustrated customer venting. A second register will increase Co-op shopping and working satisfaction.

Our new space offers room for more freezer products. Three freezer doors will be added at the new store, which will increase the amount of yummy frozen goods the Co-op can carry. This will allow Mick the flexibility to bring in more frozen foods customers have requested. He currently has a very limited space to work with, which makes it difficult for him to add products.

The new store will offer a large back-stock produce, and chill cooler. This will allow for easier stocking of products and produce. The produce cooler is currently very small and currently holds approximately 18 apple boxes snugly at one time. I try to keep small amounts of a large variety of fruits and vegetables on hand and all that food must be stored in the cooler.... somewhere. If we run out of dandelion greens on the sales floor and they happen to be on the bottom of the cooler, all the boxes leading to the dandelion greens have to be taken out of the cooler before stocking the greens. After that staff must re-pack the entire cooler. Though I try to put items we commonly run out of, in the front of the cooler, it is always a guessing game and you can bet some unlucky staff will be cooler diving before the store closes. A new cooler will provide shelves where produce boxes and chill products can be stacked neatly and will be easily accessible to staff. A new cooler will increase efficiency of stocking chill and dairy items. In the current space, staff must take out all product before stocking the cooler to ensure product is rotated properly. New coolers will allow staff to stock the chill cooler from the back, which will decrease stocking time significantly. These coolers are impossibility in our current space.

A new kitchen will be another sweet addition to our store. Currently, Judith uses a single hot plate and a food processor to prepare all of the delicious grab-n-go deli items you see in the cooler. The counter tops are at heights that make tasks such as chopping veggies and cutting cheeses very difficult for Judith and Linda. A professionally designed kitchen will make these tasks easier and more efficient for staff.