Tuesday, June 23, 2009

North Wellington Co-op Celebrates 65 Years of Business and a New Central Feed Warehouse

This article appeared on Marketwire on June 23, 2009 and was written by Janice Johnson, Ontario communication specialist.



A 65th anniversary celebration for North Wellington Co-operative Services, Inc. will include a gift to its members in the form of a new central feed warehouse at the cooperative's combination grand opening and anniversary gathering starting at 11:30 a.m. on June 25th at 56 Margaret St. South in Harriston, Ontario.

The new central feed warehouse replaces an older feed manufacturing mill. A much larger building than the previous one, it measures 40 ft. x 100 ft. and is large enough to serve all four branches and customers of North Wellington Co-operative. It will house bagged feed, and will include a large generator equipped to fully power the store, warehouse, propane plant, crop protection warehouse and cardlock gas bar in the case of a power outage.


Kelly Boyle, the cooperative's general manager, sees this as a much needed change and a better use of space. Customers will notice improvements in a few ways, but the biggest benefit is that in most cases, they will be able to pick up orders with one stop at the new warehouse instead of multiple stops around the property. "As well, the improvement to our appearance in the community will be an extra bonus for our neighbors as they enjoy the nicer view," Boyle says.
"We are one of the strongest cooperatives in Ontario," says North Wellington Co-operative Services President Eric Rae. "For a business to grow for 65 years, it not only requires a strong group of employees, an outstanding management team and board of directors but also a great amount of community spirit and customer-member loyalty."


After the grand opening ceremony, a barbecue lunch will be served to celebrate the cooperative's milestone anniversary.
An early picture of the cooperative in Harriston, Ontario.


North Wellington Co-operative Services, Inc. started as Harriston Co-operative Association on May 9, 1944 with the purchase of a feed mill on Margaret Street in Harriston. In 1956, the cooperative built a new feed mill, and entered into the bulk fuel business and a couple of years later, provided propane services. In 1960, Mount Forest District Co-operative Co. Ltd. became part of the Harriston group, and the expanded co-operative gained the name it has today. In the early nineties, during a process called Co-operative Restructuring in Ontario, the cooperative purchased the Hanover and Durham branches from United Co-operatives of Ontario, and in 1994, joined the new Ontario regional cooperative GROWMARK, Inc. The next decade was a time of calculated growth: The cooperative demonstrated its commitment to providing garden expertise and opened four new greenhouses. It expanded its energy product offering with rural energy marketing leader, UPI Inc., and created a central warehouse in Harriston. Today, 4,000 members own the cooperative. It has annual sales approaching $28 million and in 2008, had a net income of more than 475 thousand dollars. Profits of the cooperative are shared with members and used to improve the services of the cooperative.


The Harriston office of North Wellington Co-operative Services, Inc. today.

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