Village Squire, 1977-10, Page 13Manager Eric Eberhardt pulls things out of the freezer so members of the Co-op can get to work
unpacking them.
Co-operative movement, bulk buying
save shoppers money in Perth county
BY DEBBIE RANNEY
The Perth County Co-op located in the small hamlet of
Kurhyville provides an opportunity for people to work together
toward the common goal of saving money.
There are 150 members, two thirds of whom come from within
an eight or 10 mile radius of the store and about a third of the
people come from Stratford. There are eight people in the Core
group which acts like a board of directors and has the main
responsibilities including putting out a newsletter. There's a
bookkeeper, a secretary, a person that's concerned with publicity
and a manager.
The manager and the only paid member of the Co-op, Eric
Eberhardt describes the Co-op as a group of people getting
together and instead of having all the chains of the food industry,
they're bypassing the convenience of going into a store and
having everything prepackaged and are also bypassing the cost
of processing tood because a large part of the food at the Co-op is
unprocessed.
People who come to the store bring their own containers,
cartons and bottles thus cutting down on the cost of packaging
and the unprocessed foods so that most things sell cheaper than
in your local supermarket. Some of the things that are
pre-packaged are cheese and spices.
For example, pickling spice sells for 10 cents an ounce,
garlic powder for 12 cents an ounce, flour sells for 18 cents a
pound, honey is 64 cents a pound and peanut butter is 83 cents a
pound. Spices are the best buy at the store, Eric said.
Started a little over a year ago by a man by the name of Randy
Dickson who is no longer with them, the Co-op purchases
primarily from a wholesaler called Greenleaf Foods located in St.
Jacobs. Greenleaf buys directly from the farmer as much as
VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1977, 11.
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