Stillwater River Market Co-op remodel to bring changes
River Market is in the process of a remodel in making a bigger and community oriented store. This is our first major remodel project since moving downtown Stillwater,” said Co-op marketing manager Andre Bessette.
Whole natural local foods have been gaining popularity the past few years with a push away from genetically modified organisms and chemically enhanced food. The Co-op in downtown Stillwater is a great place to find such things, like fresh locally grown fruits and other assortments of delicious oddities not likely found at big stores like Cub.
The Stillwater River Market Community Co-op has strived to keep it local, organic and naturally raised since it opened in 2000. To maintain its earth-friendly practices and ever growing local product selection, the River Market is in the process of remodeling in hopes of creating a bigger, more efficient and more community-friendly store.
As the store has continued to expand in both the amount of local products it sells and customers it serves, things have become a bit cramped.
“This is our first major remodel project since moving downtown Stillwater. Our bulk bins were used at that time, as was much of the other equipment. We knew it was time to re-invest money in the store,” Co-op marketing manager Andre Bessette explained. “We also have a lot of lunch-time business, and so expanding the deli was a natural choice – we will have a salad bar and some hot options.”
“We also have a lot of lunch-time business, and so expanding the deli was a natural choice – we will have a salad bar and some hot options.
— Andre Bessette
Planning for this project began several years ago, but official construction commenced with the back offices of the store at the end of April 2013. Construction is anticipated to be completed in late July or early August of 2014.
“We will be getting all new cases, shelves, freezers – essentially all the equipment in the store will be new and much more energy efficient. We are installing all new lighting, that will reduce our wattage usage by 33 percent. The deli will have an all new kitchen added, the front end will get all new checkstands for the registers. Every part of the store will see an improvement in one form or another,” added Bassette.
The $250,000 project will take place in a two-phased process funded mostly by the stores unique shareholder style owners.
“Our owners are funding a large portion of the project through investments in c-shares. This is a unique investment opportunity open only to our 4,500 owners. The rest of the funding will be through a local bank,” explained Bassette.
There is still a lot to be done and many wrinkles to be smoothed out before the Co-op is finished with renovations. Hopefully the changes to the store will allow for greater customer service and support from the community, helping the store continue to keep it local, organic and free raised.
Zak Mantel • Jun 2, 2014 at 8:25 am
I love the Co-op, especially their sandwiches, so I was instantly interested in the article. The article was written very well, and the writer has a distinct style in her writing. The topic also seemed heavily researched and was very informative to the reader.
Fiona Montie • May 7, 2014 at 8:59 pm
Very well-written! I was impressed as I read this article by the natural flow of the sentences and the way you pieced all the information together. I love the co-op, so I was excited to read about the remodeling!
Orjana Stepien • May 7, 2014 at 10:58 am
Good job with the information you provided! I was interested while reading the article and I didn’t get uninterested at all! One thing I would maybe do is interview more people but either way the quotes were still great!
Nick Spiess • May 7, 2014 at 8:25 am
A very well put together article. Only thing I would have done differently would’ve been just getting more sources such as a student.
Alec Youngblood • May 7, 2014 at 2:51 am
This was a really well written article. The research and information was exact and very interesting.I also found your sources to be very reliable.
Colin Peters • May 6, 2014 at 11:41 pm
Great voice while writing, it really draws me in. I found good descriptions of the remodeling, leaving me with no unanswered questions about it. Great work!
Dan Strand • May 6, 2014 at 11:38 pm
Overall good article. You probably could have used more than one person for quotes but everything was good. I also liked your writing style and commentary.
nick Wanovich • May 6, 2014 at 11:22 pm
I really like your writing style. I was engaged the whole and you really made me want to keep reading. The source was a reliable one so good job.
Sydney • May 6, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Nicely done, good job at doing your research and providing the article with informative quotes from great sources. Very well put together and interesting!
Alex Pierson • May 6, 2014 at 9:32 pm
Great article, you can tell Melissa really did her research. Few errors but besides that its perfect.
Sofie Wicklund • May 6, 2014 at 9:17 pm
This article was well written and backed by thorough quotes from a reliable source. There should have been a couple other sources included, like students who shop at the co-op or even work at the co-op, just to relate it to a high school setting. Other than that, the article seemed well-researched and informative.
Kenz Hendrickson • May 6, 2014 at 7:54 pm
This article was put together perfectly. It was very obviously worked very hard on. You can tell that Melissa took her time getting the right questions for the perfect quotes, and also researching her topic. Nice article! There were a few errors, possibly edit more throughout next time!
Olivia Braun • May 6, 2014 at 7:30 pm
Thought this article was very good! Many can see the amount of research behind it. The only thing I would suggest is looking over some small editing errors in the first paragraph!
Ross Stickler • May 6, 2014 at 2:01 pm
Great article to read. The only things that could be changed about it are the placement of the photo and its caption and a couple minor formatting errors.
Tim Press • May 5, 2014 at 10:03 pm
Astounding writing style. Even though you only talked to one person, the quotes you used were simply perfect and superbly backed up your commentary (which was also great by the way). You obviously did your research and have a fine sense of detail for the 5Ws of this story. A truly admirable effort on your behalf.
Quentin Ikuta • May 5, 2014 at 2:01 pm
Very well written article on the Co-op remodel. The topic was, obviously, thoroughly researched. Thanks to the thorough research, great quotes from people such as Andre Bessette have been included. The remodel is thoroughly outlined, the intro, nutgraph, conclusion and supports are well written and interesting. However, for next time, quotes from more people would be nice. Possibly quotes from people that work at the Co-op or people that are Co-op members that have an opinion to share about the Co-op remodel would be great.