The Lloydminster and District Co-op is celebrating a big year as it surpassed $200 million in sales.
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The Co-op hosted its AGM April 29 and highlighted last year’s successes, along with a quick look forward.
Total sales reached $201 million for the year, led by the agro and petroleum division at nearly $74 million. Other major contributors included gas bars and car washes at over $66 million, food and miscellaneous sales at nearly $44 million and propane at $17 million.
A large contributing factor was the full year of sales at the new Southview location.
“We opened Southview and it had just a few months of sales the previous year,” said Lloyd Co-op CEO Peter Brown. “We got the benefit of a full year of sales. Then had growth everywhere, but probably one of the leading divisions, as I mentioned in the report, was propane.”
The AGM saw the election of three new board members, while a fourth was added to fill the vacancy left by outgoing president Chantelle Lefebvre.
The four members elected to the board are Christine Aalbers, Stacey Kadzow, Sheldon Martens and Jeff Malin, who is in for a one-year term. The new president will be elected at an upcoming board meeting.
Future plans for the Co-op include further development in the Southview area, which is slated to expand with new commercial rental spaces.
“We don’t totally have a plan in terms of how many spaces it’ll grow to,” said Brown. “We continue to market and work with potential tenants. That first building, I think, will have a potential for up to eight (spaces). Depending on the interest, we may put a couple together for a bigger space.”
When it comes to the year ahead and with Costco on the horizon, Brown explained they’ve put in cost controls for the time being.
“We were unsure with that new competitor coming to the city,” he said. “Some of the messaging management had was we’re really going to watch our cost controls this year, which has been enacted.”
He said so far, Co-op is off to a strong start to the year.
“We’ve had some really great earnings coming out of the gate this year,” said Brown. “Our members have been really loyal and strong and keep shopping with (us).”
Brown also highlighted the Co-op’s latest development, situated just north of the ongoing Costco construction.
“We’re pretty excited about that new development out towards the southwest corner of the city,” he said. “We’ve seen a great opportunity there to develop in that space where there’s a high amount of traffic estimated daily.”
Beyond financial milestones, Brown highlighted the Co-op’s involvement with Loop Resource, a program that diverts food unfit for human consumption. Through the partnership, local farms repurpose the waste as livestock feed, bioenergy, or compost.
The Co-op also marked a significant year for community investment, contributing more than $344,000 to Lloydminster and the surrounding area.
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