I have 3 different weather apps on my phone.
When you’re running a temporary grocery store out of a tent, there’s rarely a moment of the day you’re not thinking about weather. Is it going to be windy today? Heat advisory? Gentle rain? Downpour? You’re thankful for every single moment of ‘pleasant’. Weather dictates a lot about our daily experience working at the store.
Yesterday was the end of our seventh week in the tent. 49 days down. The project continues to progress on track for our early October reopening, and I’m very thankful for all the hard work of our construction partners in keeping us on time. Our staff led by Store Manager Hussein Choteka continue to roll with the unknowns of each day that come with operating a store next to an active construction zone.
Managing the construction project is a huge task, but in talking with people in the grocery and co-op world about our project, the tent operation is a point of fascination. And often in hearing about the challenges of keeping it running each day, I get a version of “well, why bother?”
Why bother to cringe every time it rains? Why bother problem solving for internet access problems? Why bother having to push every delivery up a ramp into the tent? Do what any other store would do. Close the store, do the construction project and reopen. Furlough staff and rehire them when you open again. Why bother?
You all know how I feel about this store and our staff, so I don’t need to enumerate my answers to these questions, but I got an unexpected answer to Why Bother? recently that I wasn’t exactly counting on when we set up this tent-porary store.
I was doing our monthly reporting for the USDA grant that funds our double-up program, where SNAP recipients get 50% off fresh fruits and vegetables. We’re doing less than 30% of our normal sales volume in the tent, which we planned for. But when I looked up July SNAP data for the reporting, I found that we were doing 46% of our typical SNAP sales, and 67% of our typical double-up amount. In other words, we had retained a much higher percentage of SNAP customers and an even higher percentage of customers using the double-up.
It was a moment when the numbers told me a story. Some people can shop elsewhere while make improvements to the store, but others can’t. Most grocery stores don’t offer the produce double-up program, and in the 4 years that we’ve had it, it has become so important to so many families and community members.
So the answer to why go through all the trouble to set up a temporary store this summer? Why bother? That’s it right there. It’s important that there’s a grocery store located in this neighborhood that provides access to fresh foods. Our co-op provides things other stores don’t, and we do it with local ownership and democratic member control.
Like all of you, I’ll be thrilled when we get through construction and you can see our beautiful new store and updated equipment. Until then, we hope to see you all around the tent in the coming weeks, and I’ll keep checking my weather apps for sunny skies.
-Mike Houston, TPSS Co-op General Manager