The Lawrence plastic bag ban takes effect tomorrow. The Merc Co+op removed plastic bags from our registers in 2013, and the paper bags we provide are 60% post-consumer recycled material - in other words, it’s business as usual. We appreciate this step our Lawrence government is taking to encourage a more sustainable future!
The Merc Co+op is excited to announce the recipients of the 2024 Change for our Community program. “Change” gives shoppers the opportunity to donate their spare change to local organizations every time they shop. Each month, a different organization is featured as the recipient, and 100% of all donations collected go to that specific organization.
In fiscal year 2022, we - as a co-op community - raised $85,484. Since the program began in January 2014, we have raised over $601,000 for 57 local nonprofits.
October is Fair Trade Month, and Fairtrade America is launching their fourth annual campaign to generate broader awareness Fairtrade certified products. This year, The Merc Co+op’s Lawrence store was selected! Mural installation begins the week of September 11.
We want you… to join us on The Merc Co+op’s Board of Directors.
Everything special about the summer season finally feels like it's right at our doorstep—including our excitement for the 2023 board election season.
In the final phase of the front end portion of our Lawrence remodel, we will replace our store’s over 20-year-old check stands. Our current technology will be mounted into new cabinetry with a longer belt. The additional space will allow shoppers to unload more groceries onto the belt to help facilitate a swifter check out experience.
In addition, our full service check out stands will be repositioned to aim south towards the exit rather than their current eastern configuration. Our self check outs will also shift to align with the exit doors. The new orientation of the check stands will maximize our sales floor space and create better traffic flow for shoppers to queue up in line. The configuration will also make room to accommodate a new floral cooler.
Plans are coming together for the biggest phase of all. This is when we will replace our refrigeration rack and resetting the store to bring you more produce, refrigerated and frozen offerings. The cost of equipment and labor has come in much higher than originally budgeted. In order to complete this phase of the project, we need to take out a loan from the bank and that is where the Board of Directors come in.
Potentially harmful amounts of heavy metals lead and cadmium have been found in 28 popular dark chocolate brands, states a report released in December by Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports based their study on California’s standards for daily intake, which are stricter than those recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA has not issued a recall.
On Monday, May 16 our co-op's board of directors voted to approve a financing plan for the purpose of remodeling our Lawrence store. This October, payments on our building at 901 Iowa will be completed, allowing our business to sustainably reinvest in its flagship location.
The remodel will occur in two phases. Phase One will take place this summer with a focus on expanding our restrooms, adding an additional full service register lane and creating a more welcoming employee break room. To make this possible, we will modify the Coffee + Juice Bar and merge our classroom with the café. Phase Two (early 2023) will follow with a necessary replacement of our refrigeration rack which has reached the end of its useful life and is beyond its maximum capacity. Replacing it with a modern, higher efficiency rack will reduce the store's carbon footprint.
The Merc Co+op alongside National Co+op Grocers (NCG) is heartbroken by this weekend’s senseless violence against the Black community in Buffalo, NY in a racially motivated domestic terrorist incident that took the lives of 10 people and wounded 3 more. We grieve with the families of those whose lives were taken and with everyone who is suffering in the Black community. As one grocer to another, we extend solidarity and empathy to the staff and shoppers of Tops Market on Jefferson, where this brutal act took place.
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven community organizations across the nation to come up with more innovative vaccination strategies. In what was once a downtown food desert in Kansas City, KS, that innovation has materialized as a unique relationship between a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) supporting better health outcomes in underserved areas, a local cooperative grocer, and a non-profit organization servicing the needs of the Hispanic community.
Your co-op is excited to announce that the installation of self check out lanes will begin the first week of January in our Lawrence store. (This plan was first announced in the October 2021 issue of our owner newsletter, Connections.) These new lanes will allow shoppers to select the mode of their check out experience, while increasing efficiency and pace across all registers.
It is The Merc Co+op's donations policy that we "will not financially support organizations that permit the exclusion of a group based on their race/ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or lifestyle."
Juneteenth — also known as Freedom Day or Jubilee Day — is a holiday that celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. Effective June 17, 2021, President Biden signed a bill to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Food co-ops are for everyone, and we’re committed to continually learning and growing so we can live up to that statement. Learn how food co-ops, like The Merc Co+op, are prioritizing and supporting racial equity.
This document answers common questions about the findings of a Congressional report analyzing levels of heavy metals in leading brands of baby food. National Cooperative Grocers is working with manufacturers implicated in the report to provide statements in response to these findings. This information is accurate as of February 9, 2021.
