The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1948-02-12

that's brewing in Pontiac, Mich. 1
will be another one of those bat
ties between a little David and one
of the biggest Goliaths in history
the great, big A & P. And the
David in the case will be little
grocery store with a big sign on il
that says Coop"
Maybe you saw the story in youl
labor paper when the coop store
opened in Pontiac few weeks ago
1t marked the end of weeks OF
study and work by the AFL anc
CIO people who spark-plugged the
project. The bitter cold Thursday
night when the store opened fo1
the official preview, hundreds OF
people came out to drink coffee
MUNICH doughnuts and admire the
neat stacks of coop goods that the
store sported.
By the end of the next day, the
piles had melted away, and the
store had to be closed down so that
the checkout counter could be NOV
ed overland two more installed
to handle the crowd. After two
weeks of busines, it seems quite
clear that the people of Pontiac
like their coop, and like the saw
ings that they are making by buy
ing from it.
There's no question about the
prices; they are lower than super
market prices either in Pontiac or
in nearby Detroit. If the people
don't know it from their own ex-
perience, they can ask the group
of Akron workers who travelled to
Pontiac just to be there when the
store opened. These men drove into
Detroit and checked the coop
prices against the super market
prices in Detroit. They found that
the coop was about &c an article
cheaper on practically everything
that the store had for sale. Pom
tiac people can't afford to sneeze
at chance to save &c an item on
everything they can buy at the CO.
op. Can you?
| said everything that they can
buy at the coop; what | mean is
that the coop doesn't try to sell
everything that the chain stores
sell. When the Pontiac committee
stocked their store, they left out,
on purpose, those things that the
chain stores sell as Gloss leaders"
or at very small margins of profit.
"We can't beat the chains on things
like flour and canned milk" they
say. "Save money and buy those at
the chain. Then come back here
for the things that we can save
you money on"
That's a new way to run coop.
But it's not the only new thing
about this one. For instance, this
is not on a main, downtown street;
it's out ON n road that runs thru
the factory area. That's where the
workers find it convenient to shop.
Also, that's where you can give
people lots of parking place; they
need it if they drive up to the
store to cart away the loads that
people are buying at this coop.
Other ways have been doped out
to save money ON equipment, rent
and other costs of doing business.
But the building itself is fresh,
nicely painted, and well-stocked.
This is little coop set up to do
big business at cut-rate prices
and make money at the same time.
Maybe you think it won't work.
Maybe you're right. But don't be
too sure. Meanwhile, volume is
growing, business is booming and
some of the coop people go around
with amazed looks on their faces
kind of like a duck that expected
a ducklin and hatched out an ac
tive, robust ostrich instead.
The A & p people, however,
cts come back to them. They are
more than amazed. They are wor-
'ied. The come around every once
n while to see how the coop is
getting along. And it's quite plain
hat they don't like what they see.
The rumors are flying that the A
& p is getting ready to declare war
to begin cutting prices in order
o drive this upstart business out
If town.
Don't think they can't do it;
lozens of times the big chains have
,lashed prices below costs to drive
IN independent merchant out of
business. OF course, they have |
,lenty of profits to keep them
going during the price war, and
hen they can shoot prices up as
ar as they like after the indepen-
lent has been kicked out.
But are the co-operators wor
led Nope. When you talk to
hem about it, they smile and talk
bout the other tricks they have
Up their sleeves-like farm pro-
luce, brought direct to the coop
" the farmers who grow it, to be
old at a price that gives both
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