TESTIMONY Belonging is Everything: Rewarding and recognising the Co-operative way Each year I look forward to the Society’s Annual Rewards and Recognition Awards event as this for me is the standout event in our corporate calendar.
TESTIMONY Future Retailers This sea of curiosity greeted me in Jersey’s Royal Court recently. I was asked to present to a group of A Level students about the careers that were available to them on our islands. And, specifically, obviously, retail careers. Dispelling the myth that retail is about shelf filling and
TESTIMONY "How do I get your job, sir?" Meet Bruno, one my brilliant colleagues. Bruno started on the shop floor two years ago and, with our support is starting to develop his supervisory skills. “I started where you are now Bruno, so there is nothing to stop you doing it too.” I told him. “Oh, and call me
TESTIMONY The way we walk! Unlike many normal businesses, we use our success as a business to pursue our purpose, “to make a real difference to the communities we serve.” And we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk too! So, I am absolutely thrilled that our Society was recently recognised for
TESTIMONY En Route to more convenience in Jersey Our members have been keen for us to expand our Jersey fuel offering for some time, so we are very excited about the prospect of securing planning permission for a new Co-op En Route at the J.F.T.U. Town & Country site on Queens Road. For readers
TESTIMONY The Next Step for our Jersey Flagship – Welcoming Dunelm to Grand Marché Six months ago, we announced that we were looking to improve and modernise our Grand Marché store in St. Helier, and were seeking interested partners to provide our customers with a greater choice of home furnishings and general merchandise. This week, I am pleased to reveal that market-leading UK
TESTIMONY What is the purpose of your business? In a world that is changing faster than ever, how can businesses develop a sustainable competitive advantage? There are many people who treat business like a game. You place a few bets, you win some and you lose some, and then you move on. But these bets often have human
TESTIMONY What next for our larger stores?? The news that we are seeking interested partners to introduce more choice into our Grand Marché store in St Helier has understandably caused some Member confusion. The fact that the paper chose to publish only part of the story didn’t help! I thought therefore that Members would appreciate hearing
TESTIMONY Leale’s Yard: Part 4 Photo Credit: The Guernsey Press I’m absolutely delighted that the Society has been granted full planning approval for our plans to regenerate Leale’s Yard. After a long and complicated journey, this was a big moment for us – and for Guernsey. As chief executive of the Society, Leale’s
TESTIMONY A River of Light for St Helier I’ve had the pleasure of working on some exciting and unique community projects in my time at the Society, and our plans to regenerate Pitt Street are no exception. The street, which runs from Dumaresq Street to Charing Cross, will be rejuvenated as part of the Charing Cross development
TESTIMONY A Global Community of Local Co-operatives I’ve just returned from Brussels where I had the fantastic opportunity to showcase the Channel Islands Co-operative Society to representatives from 20,000 co-operatives from across the world at the annual Consumer Co-operatives Worldwide event. Seeing so many delegates from all corners of the globe was
TESTIMONY A link to our past; a bridge for our future - Part III We were delighted when over 600 islanders took an interest and attended the public presentations of The Society’s plans for Leale’s Yard in Guernsey and we are really pleased that the plans have been welcomed by so many members of the community. Understandably though, with a scheme of
TESTIMONY A Link to our Past; a Bridge for our Future Leale’s Yard and St Sampson’s Bridge or “Le Grande Pont” are important parts of Guernsey’s heritage. As we’re on the verge of announcing major plans for Leale’s Yard, I wanted to share some of the history of this site with you, and whet your appetite
TESTIMONY Your New En Route St Sampson’s: A Shop For How We Live Now Our shop of choice should fit around our lives – not the other way round. As more and more of us turn away from the weekly shop, an affordable shop to visit a few times a week is becoming an essential. As we all get busier, our free time is becoming
TESTIMONY The Architecture of Innovation Creating Opportunities and Innovation in Our Communities Typically, only the big guns with their big budgets can afford the level of innovation that would get noticed on an international scale. So, when we found out that our new Grouville Locale had been shortlisted by the IGD for Innovative Store of
TESTIMONY Rethinking Health and Education Health and education are arguably the two most important pillars of our community. Education, at its best, nourishes identity, ambition and aspiration whilst excellent Healthcare is vital for maintaining a productive and happy population. The question is whether government is best placed to deliver the key components of these foundations
TESTIMONY Percentage for Art: Our Way Locale Grouville The recent opening of our new Locale at Grouville showcased the Co-operative approach to community involvement. I have often heard cynics say that the Percentage for Art (or PfA) scheme was designed to make wealthy art dealers wealthier; bring in soulless lumps of bronze from outside our
TESTIMONY Innovation in the East I was incredibly proud to open our latest locale in Grouville last week. This opening marked the culmination of over two years of hard work, starting with the acquisition of the site leading through to the various design, planning and execution phases. We have been overwhelmed by the community reaction
TESTIMONY The End of an Era? The final Annual Report of the Guernsey Growers’ Association (GGA) has just been published. I really enjoyed working with the GGA team back when The Society was instrumental in pulling together the ‘Guernsey Grown’ initiative, which has flourished since we launched it about seven years ago. Reading through the report,
TESTIMONY All Good Things Come To Those Who Wait When you are only three years old, things you’re really excited about seem to take forever to arrive. And Lewis, my youngest son, is a perfect example of this. It seemed to him that he had to wait years to turn four, “Am I four yet Dad? It’s
TESTIMONY Your Health, Your Healthcare Centre Last week we announced the launch of Co-operative Medical Care. I am absolutely thrilled to offer our members this new service and to welcome our new medical care colleagues to the Society. <img src="https://storage.ghost.io/c/b9/88/b9881167-0c79-4929-89a4-ccca51382482/content/
TESTIMONY En Route to more convenience in Guernsey We are all very excited about our new En Route in Guernsey at the old GT Cars site. It’s great to have another Guernsey store in the pipeline, particularly as our members are so excited about the new Locale that is being developed in Grouville in Jersey. The new
TESTIMONY Why are we here? Don’t worry! The question isn't as deep as it sounds. This is about your Co-op and the reason for our existence. The answer is simple: To serve our members. That’s it, nothing else. How do we do it? By listening to you, by returning the
TESTIMONY Sticky Money Our Co-op Keeps Wealth Locally: Sticky Money Like me, if you have grown up in the Channel Islands, you might take it for granted that one of your favourite retail chains is locally owned. Most retailers in parts of France or the UK are owned through complex, distant chains
TESTIMONY A false sense of security Food retailing, and the way we consume food, has changed significantly over the years, in the Channel Islands, in the UK and on the continent. For many of us, we spend less time in the kitchen preparing food than we used to - even the lettuce for your healthy salad is
