Monday is the last day to lead the new direction at 16th Ave’s popular cooperative grocery market as Central Co-op drops the “Madison Market” brand and moves forward into its now debt-free future. Details on the Co-op’s search for a new general manager are below. But don’t delay. Today is the last day to apply for the gig.
The longtime Hill cooperative is searching for a new leader after Reese Williams stepped down earlier this year following seven years in the role.
“In September, we retire the last of our debt service from the 1999 relocation of Central Co-op to the Madison Market site we proudly operate as Central Co-op again,” Williams wrote this summer in the cooperative’s monthly newsletter. “Now seems the most appropriate time to close the loop on my service as general manager and return my focus to my intended life path.”
This fall, the market says it paid off the last of the $3 million it borrowed to create its new home at 16th and Madison that opened in 1999. Previously, the market lived at 12th and Denny on land the Co-op owned. It sold that property to help create the new store as well as taking on the significant chunk of debt to finance the project. You can read a full history of the market here.
With the retired debt and the GM search underway, the store is getting back to its roots:
While the name “Madison Market” identified the new location and characterized the larger, upscale store that opened there, we are proud to now return to the name “Central Co-op”, identifying the cooperative grocer that we are. As we reflect on the past to prepare for the future, we will honor several of the individuals who have held key roles in the co-op during this past decade, including outgoing general manager Reese Williams.
So, prospective general managers, there’s your mission. More details on the role, below.
General Manager Position Announcement
That’s kind of funny, because in recent years, I’ve learned to call it Madison Market, especially due to the fact that other people have no idea what I’m talking about if I say I’m shopping at the co-op, or Central Co-op. But they do know the name Madison Market.
Onward to more awesomeness! My husband and I (previously PCC shoppers before we moved to this neighborhood) are really in love with the co-op. We actually centered our new home search around it. The store is so well curated to exclude the faux-sustainable products, and to feature an amazing variety of hyper-local products and labeling them as such, and the people working there are amazing too. Hopefully the co-op will be around for a long, long time and we’ll never grocery shop anywhere else again. :-)
Interesting info from their website… I always wondered why there was no PCC on the hill;
“At the time, Puget Consumers Co-op (PCC) was interested in expanding to Capitol Hill. In light of CHC’s recent demise, PCC was concerned about Central’s ability to effectively serve the neighborhood. PCC was willing to respect Central’s trade area, but only if Central developed an effective business plan. The pragmatists won out: Central developed a business plan, and PCC offered crucial financial and technical support. “
I have been a co-op owner for 6+ years. I have attended board meetings with Kristina Kokonis as president. If you have ever met Kristina and attended a co-op board meeting, you know that she is the farthest from being intimidating and incapable of making people ‘scared.’ These are elected board members, who are working on a volunteer basis, with almost no pay, who devote their time in and out of board meetings with the sole goal of making the co-op a better place. They are not fat-cat Boeing execs screwing line workers out of benefits and helping their friends get rich. If you have had the luxury of attending a co-op board meeting, it’s like watching paint dry… a Bored meeting? In truth, I have witnessed Ms. Kokonis do her best with the minimal power she has to further co-op agendas and goals. The recent coup attempt does not feel at all in the spirit of a co-op. The grievances are questionable. It feels like there maybe another agenda. I would like to see both sides more transparent. Work it out off the selling floor and in a more mature spirit that signals true concern for the benefit of the co-op, not personal beefs or benefits.