The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1948-01-31
Operation
Costs Cut
To Half
Project Spread To
Community, Now
Has $50 Members

IId8 OoO lVkCILIpGI8
Union and coop members will
keep interested eyes turned on
Pontiac. Mich, this month.
A new kind of food store was
opened there Jan. ~. It's a CO.
op. with active labor support,
but unusual.
Originally brought to life by
the United Auto Workers-CIO.
il has become a community pro-
ject, with $50 members from all
walks of life.
NO FANCY EQUIPMENT
No frills, no expensive equip
ment, designed to handle masses
Of groceries at low operating
cost--it is sharp departure
from recent coop supermarkets.
The new methods used in Pom
tiac were worked out by union
and coop leaders in an attempt
TO help consumers make immed-
late savings on their food bills.
II differs from existing COOP
supermarkets in several ways:
j. Locations: low rent build.
Ing. out Of the shopping cen.
ter. accessible by auto.
2. Stock: "streemlined." ali
items sold compared TO usual
1000 or more in average gro.
Gerry storel.
3. Services: groceries only, no
meats. no produce.
4. Display: no shelves, all
goods piled up In mass displays
made out of cases of mer.
chandise.
5. Capital: equipment Is held
down. need for capital also
held down.
s. Margins: coop exepeis 10
operate on ga per cent for
expenses compared with usual
IA or Is per cent?.
Holding the stock down to 2ll
items is a practically unheard-of
experiment in cost-paring. Tho
items 10 be sold were selected
on the basis OF potential saw
ings: "high-margin" items on
which prices can be slashed
with established consumer value.
Extra sizes and competing brands
VIII be eliminated. Prices will be
/ set as low as possible, with
some margin for a year's-end
refund.
The $50 members have in
vested an average Of SIS apiece
thus far, for a total of $4,000
with an additional $4,000 still
outstanding in pledges.
GTnNMG CTVnH~~~
Strong support by members
and officers OF the United Auto
Workers-C1O whose Pontiac
membership is about $4,000. ac-
counted for good deal of Tho
character and speed of the drive.
The present officers Of the CO
op are Elmer Graham. who
works at the General Motto
truck and coach plant: La Dor.
nuht OF the Pontiac branch r.
The National Association for ~
Advancement of Colored Peopl-;
.. Rev. Mr.. Claggett OF the Con
greGatlonal Church; Miriam Hall.
landscape architect; George Car
hart retired social worker.
Most novel feature of the or
ganZing campaign were Coon
rairS. These were sales conduc.
Cd on Fridays and SATURDAY,
throughout the drive. which dir.
lrlouted over $500 worth of CO.
op groceries each week
Coop Fairs. which will ale,
De used IN Dctoit during a CO.
op campaign there. differ from
unlon-hall sales in several WAYS:
THE AIM
they are conducted by the CO.
op, rather than by the union
Ihelr aim is To build a ner.
manent coop Sa'~s of shares
arc pushed. The Pontiac Fail
sold 81 in shares for every 50
OF groceries.
Goods are sold at low mar
ket prices rather than al cost
Savings are returned as reh,nds
coop. 'N
In Detroit, where % 1JAw
locals are handling groceries az
me rate of So million a wear
number of groups will merge
WIN the Motor City Coon. fol-
lowing a series Of Coop Fairs
a Motor City Coop rally brought
out 400 people on Jan. 6.
Other groups in Michigan and
northern Ohio ready for action
include Jackson, Muskegon. Kali
amazoo, Ypsilanti, Grand Ran.
las Toledo and Massilon.