The Board of Directors of the Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-Operative has approved the acquistion of Super A Foods in Hay River, and a few representatives have shared some additional information on this new development.
Justin Nelson, the Manager of the Yellowknife Co-op, and Mark Needham, the President of Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op Limited, shared that the addition of Super A Foods into their business family has been in the works for just over a year now.
Needham explained that the original owners of Super A Foods were in fact the ones to reach out to the Co-op as they were looking to sell their business, and wanted to pass it on to an operator who shared similar community values.
“We began the process with the assistance of Arti Co-ops and Federated Co-ops to look at that store. A little over a year ago we signed some Non-Disclosures, hence the reason it hasn’t been discusses broadly in the community. We started looking at the financials, the equipment, how it could be part of our organization.”
Needham further explained that this whole process was a byproduct of previous attempts to build a second Co-op location in Yellowknife, but the cost to do so turned out to be too great. Before the Super A opportunity presented itself, they were also looking into ways to make improvements to the Yellowknife grocery store.
Nelson explained that Super A Foods will eventually be renamed as part of the Co-op brand.
“Our plans for the Super A is to turn it into a Co-operative, and it’s going to be the same as the Yellowknife Co-op. We are also looking at changing our name to Lakeshore Co-op, and basically, if you’re a member of Yellowknife, you’ll be able to shop in Hay River and vice versa. You’re still going to be a member of Lakeshore Co-operative, but you can shop at either store.”
The two were also quick to reassure that all of the current Super A staff will be keep their jobs as the store transitions into a Co-op location.
As stated in their initial announcement, Super A Foods is expected to come under the full operation of the Co-operative on May 15th.
