Co-Op raises funds for expansion
Last Wednesday the Daily Market Cooperative hosted a Valentine’s Day themed fund-raising event.
The event was held at Fat Duck Inn, a luxury bed and breakfast minutes from campus that in part is a product of the region’s burgeoning wine tourism.
Daily Market, formerly known as the Sweet Onion Co-op, was started three years ago and is working to expand from what began as a Whitman-funded student venture to a thriving community business.
Local wines were available for sampling along with fair trade chocolate. The event’s sophistication, and its $25-30 price tag, catered to an older crowd.
“A lot of Whitman students are not a part of the community to a certain extent. Investing $150 to become a member-owner is something that doesn’t make sense to them because they’re leaving in four years, and they’re on a meal plan, and we don’t have a store yet,” said junior Wynne Auld, who is a board member of the co-op.
The event’s grown-up feel reiterated the co-op’s goals: to carve out a serious niche in the Walla Walla community.
“We’re trying to reassure the community that it isn’t a student thing. Because it had its inception at Whitman, sometimes community members need to almost be convinced that it is not a Whitman entity at all. It’s independent and it’s a community group,” said Auld.
The Co-op is working to achieve a certain amount of capital so that soon it can open a store.
“We had to have a professional market study done, where an expert in the field came into Walla Walla and surveyed all of Walla Walla and commercial businesses that were available and potential rivals. ‘Who would be interested in shopping at this co-op?’ And the study came back overwhelmingly positive, which was really great for us because that meant our efforts would be worthwhile and that the bank would be willing to give us a loan if we achieve some capital ourselves,” said Auld.
To achieve this capital, the Co-op is recruiting member-owners, who pay a one-time refundable $150, then $10 each year thereafter to remain active. Member-owners own a part of the co-op and entitled to all sort of other goodies, such as discounts and voting power.
Because of the transient nature of people’s time at Whitman, and the meal plan structure, many have not taken advantage of what the co-op has to offer.
“This store cannot be made by Whitman students—it has to be a function of the community. But if the entire freshman class were to sign up, we’d have store by the end of the year,” said Auld.
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