A 2024 End of Year Message from Krish

Dear Members,

As 2024 comes to an end, I am very grateful for all that we have shared and achieved in this past year. To start with, please accept our heartfelt thanks for all the ways you’ve engaged with PCC in 2024. From happy hour at Westland Distillery, to the tour at the Ballard Locks with Long Live the Kings, to everyday interactions while you’ve shopped our stores, we so appreciate your loyalty and shared commitment to our local communities.

Our store teams were especially happy to be able to welcome you at our stores during the awful recent windstorm that left so many of you without power for several days – I trust that things are feeling more normal now, for all. While some days are more challenging than others, we continue to be inspired by what we can accomplish together.

The holidays are also a perfect time share a few highlights since my last note to you:

• We expect the co-op to be profitable for 2024. These results speak to amazing efforts across every part of our organization and incredible support from all of you, our nearly 118,000 members. This represents significant and steady progress toward returning PCC to sustained profitability – we have more work to do but are on the right path thanks to your commitment.
• Thank you for joining us as we celebrated significant milestone anniversaries at four stores: West Seattle (35 years), Fremont (30 years), Issaquah (25 years) and Ballard (5 years)!
• During our annual member campaign, we welcomed 1,596 new members, and more than 2,000 of you joined us at in-store and community partner events. By year-end, we expect to add 7,250 new members, bringing us to more than 118,000 total as we begin the new year.
• In the first 18 weeks of our new “round-up” pin pad program, shoppers gave more than $167,000 to support PCC’s Growing For Good program (in partnership with Neighborhood Farmers Market and Harvest Against Hunger) and total donations to the program in 2024 have passed $211,000!
• PCC partnered with UNFI and United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF) through Thanksgiving to raise money and amplify work done by indigenous organizations to support community food systems. All 165 NCG member co-ops across the country embraced the program and together we raised more than $164,000 to support Indigenous food systems across the US. Here in the Pacific Northwest, $25,000 of that total will support UIATF’s important work.

At a recent Board meeting, PCC’s Trustees approved our 2025 budget and long-range strategic plan. In both, our primary objective continues to be returning PCC to sustained financial health while supporting our mission commitments to our people (co-op staff and our members) and the community.

The investments and priorities we will pursue in 2025 are intended to ensure that our staff have the support, tools and training needed to cement PCC as a preferred destination for our members and shoppers, while always balancing our commitment to the triple bottom line model: people, planet and profit.

As we do this, I want to emphasize two things: The first is that PCC’s purpose begins with our staff and our members, and this guides all of our priorities for this coming year. The second is that our focus on quality standards and responsible sourcing remains unchanged and unwavering: our mission as a co-op is to ensure that good food nourishes the communities we serve, while cultivating vibrant local, organic food systems.

It has never felt more exciting to be doing what we do at PCC. The world of grocery shopping has seen immense change in the past few years, and through the power of cooperative principles, we are uniquely positioned to serve our local communities who believe in the power of good food as a unifying force. I could not be more grateful to be able to share in this journey with you all and wish you a peaceful and happy holiday season.

Krish