Looking Forward to 2025
Linda Johnson, General Manager
As the calendar has turned to 2025 and 2024 is fading into the rear view, it is important to celebrate all of the joy, fun and reminiscing that our year- long, historic 50th anniversary celebration brought to all that are associated with and love Wheatsfield Cooperative. I’m reminded of the activities that culminated in the Groovy Golden Jubilee in September 2024 and our historic 50-year milestone every time I look out the window of my office and see the 50th anniversary quilt proudly displayed on the wall by the cheese counter, along with Lonna’s drawings of the Douglas Avenue and the Northwestern Avenue locations. Please take time when you are shopping again to view the 50th anniversary quilt which was created by Wheatsfield employees, Brenda Backman and Shelley Jaspering, and is intended to honor the contributions of all that have come before us and with great anticipation for the growth that is possible for the Co-op in the next 50 years. We’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings in 1974!
2025 is shaping up to be another momentous year in the life of Wheatsfield as we begin the process of preparing for the first change in leadership of the cooperative in the last 25 years. I let the Wheatsfield Board know in June 2024 of my plans to retire at the end of June 2025 and they began the process of selecting a new General Manager to lead the cooperative into the future. They chose Stacey Brown, a 23-year veteran of Wheatsfield to be the next GM, someone who has been involved in the operation and management of the co-op at the very highest level for many years. Congratulations, Stacey! We will be working together even more closely than usual over the remaining months of my time at the Co-op to make sure the transition is a smooth one.
While the staff is preparing for 2025 and planning for all the events that normally are a part of the culture of Wheatsfield, we are also undertaking some big changes that will improve and update the way we operate financially and better prepare for and enhance the anticipated future growth of the Co-op. We have used QuickBooks desktop in all of the 25 years that I have been GM but it is time to move to QuickBooks online and we are preparing for the change within the next few months. Along with QuickBooks online, we are getting ready to implement a new Chart of Accounts that National Co-op Grocers (NCG), the national purchasing and development cooperative, has recommended to allow for better sharing of information across the 165 co-ops that are a part of NCG, including Wheatsfield. Those 165 co-ops operate 240 stores in 39 states with a combined annual sales of $2.8 billion.
These changes are expected to be completed by the end of March so stay tuned for updates on their completion and on the GM transition. As always, we thank you for your loyal support of Wheatsfield and look forward to seeing you in the co-op!
Thanks for all your great work to make Wheatsfield a wonderful place to shop!!