Welcoming 2024 at PCC Community Markets

Dear Member,

2023 marked 70 years of PCC Community Markets and it was a great opportunity for us to reflect on both the co-op’s legacy and its future. As we usher in the new year, I want to express our collective gratitude to you for shopping in our stores during PCC’s Member Month in October and throughout the holidays. I hope that you experienced the care and service that embodies the very best of our co-op’s mission, vision and values during a special time of year.

We began as a community of people committed to each other and to good food, and that’s how we ended the year as well. During the fourth quarter of last year, we welcomed more than 1,300 new members to the co-op during our first annual Member Month, raised more than $120,000 to support our Growing for Good program, and codified a new Cleaning Product standard.

Late last year, we made the sad and difficult decision to close our downtown Seattle store (at 4th & Union) later this month, and that effort is well on track. All of our amazing staff members at the downtown store were offered positions elsewhere within the co-op, and I am happy to share that more than 80% of them have accepted new roles and will be staying with us.

To our members who frequented the downtown PCC location, I know this closure is deeply disappointing and a frustrating inconvenience, and I have appreciated hearing from many of you personally. It is, however, an unfortunate reflection of how hard it currently is for a small, independent and community-oriented grocer to operate profitably in our city center. Please know that we deeply appreciated your patronage there and hope to see you at another PCC store location.

We also continue to be in collective bargaining with UFCW 3000 for a new wage agreement covering our more than 1,650 unionized PCC staff members. While we have not yet settled on a contract, despite active and committed participation by all concerned, we remain deeply committed to the best possible outcome for our employees that also keeps our co-op financially viable.

On the one hand, it is disappointing that we have not yet concluded this work. However, it is even more important that we get it right. To that end, we continue to make progress and are very pleased to have been able to align on many of the contract terms that are important to our staff members.

As we proceed to the next phase in these discussions, we have added the expertise of a federal mediator to help both sides conclude this negotiation; it is a positive step that builds on the progress made to date. We appreciate UFCW Local 3000’s leadership team’s efforts and collaboration as our partner in this important task.

You, our member-owners, support PCC immensely through your commitment to our co-op. In 2024 — “The Year of the Co-op” — we will focus on furthering the spirit and impact of cooperative principles. Please stay tuned to learn more about how we can work together to uplift our communities and celebrate co-ops in 2024.

As always, thank you for shopping your values at PCC to inspire and advance the health and well-being of people, their communities and our planet. I wish you peace and good health in this new year.

Thank you,

Krish Srinivasan
CEO & President