To claim that the need for growth is just self-serving staff members trying to get more pay is just plain silly.
Advertising is critical.
Without new blood and sales growth, small and medium sized stores are doomed to extinction as the natural foods business continues to grow and the privately held chains continue to spread. Old-school members who want to limit growth generally know nothing about the grocery business in particular and very little about the difficulties of capitalism asf a whole. We have a town of about 30,000 people and we get 200 new members each month. We are aggressive yet friendly about it at the front end. And yes, we take out advertisements on the rock n roll radio station explaining what a co-op is.