Big Hollow Food Co-Op is a locally owned grocery
store, in Laramie, Wyoming, that supports local farmers and carries a variety
of organic foods. Being a co-op, they strive to meet the needs of the
community. The co-op holds meetings in which community members can sit in on,
allowing for the full needs of the customer to be met. As previously stated,
one of their goals is to support the community, giving them a local and healthy
place to shop. Aside from that, Big Hollow’s main goal is to improve on getting
the word out that they are a co-op and how to explain to people what exactly
that entails. The company is here to serve the Laramie community, whether it be
by selling local farmer’s produce, or allowing the customers to have a say in
the company. Because Big Hollow is a co-op, it allows for the people in the community
to be involved in various meetings that are effective to the company.
Big Hollow’s big picture goal is mainly to make the community aware
that the local business is a co-op, meaning that they support both the
community and other homegrown businesses. A few other goals that were not as
imperative, but still relatively important, were increasing the amount of
shoppers, both members and non-members, as well as the amount of local
suppliers. Although these were the objectives given to us, we wanted to include
some of our own that we thought could help the co-op. As a group, we brainstormed
some ideas of how to advertise the co-op, as well as questioned why it is so
important to the company to inform the public about them being a co-op. For advertisement
methods, we suggested posting fliers around campus and downtown, having a booth
in the union at the university, and also asked if Big Hollow had any particular
budget to spend on these advertisements. As for informing the public about Big
Hollow being a co-op, I think that our group is still unsure of how exactly to
go about this task. Even if we are able to tell people Big Hollow is a co-op,
what would cause the community to want to buy their groceries there instead of
at Walmart or Safeway? Even if knowing Big Hollow is a co-op does not drive in
more customers, the community would still become more educated about the
company¾whether it be through advertisements they see around town, or
someone verbally informing them about all a co-op does for the public. By
addressing this problem, Big Hollow will hopefully benefit by gaining more
customers, as well as more people who sign up to be a member of their co-op.
For addressing the main goal of informing the community about
Big Hollow being a co-op, I think that we as a group will first need to fully
understand why exactly this is so essential to the company. In an outsider’s
eyes, it is hard to see why a potential customer would be more drawn to a
company just because it is a co-op, or locally supported. In this case, our
audience would primarily be to the general public, perhaps some students who
prefer organic foods would be attracted to the store as well. Most co-ops are
generally small, including Big Hollow, however there are some that are more
well publicized and located in more populous areas. For example, there is a
co-op in Texas called Wheatsville Food Co-Op that has over 17,000 members,
which could also be a factor of location. Though, the main thing that I noticed
about the Wheatsville Co-Op was that they seemed to make their website a top
priority. (Wheatsville Food) This could be something we, as a group, suggest to
Big Hollow. Perhaps we would see if there is any room in their budget to create
a more appealing and informative website. Nowadays people want to know what
exactly they are expecting to buy before they get into the store. Having this
knowledge could potentially attract more people to Big Hollow if potential
customers were to know what the store sells before stepping foot in the door. Aside
from their website, Big Hollow has a Facebook page, one that is very well
informed and kept updated, so I personally do not think that media is any large
issue here. Although, referring back to their website, I think that certain
medias there could use some work, such as what they are currently selling and
all that they do for the community within their co-op. I hope that my group
members and I will be able to help Big Hollow gain more customers through
informing the community about what a co-op is and that it is one. I feel that
there is nothing my group and I could do to put Big Hollow at a disadvantage,
we can only help improve what they already have.
Works Cited
“Wheatsville
Food Co-op.” Wheatsville Co-op. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
<http://wheatsville.coop/>.
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