PCC 2005 Annual Report

A message from the CEO: A year of growth for our co-op

Our cooperative wrapped up 2005 with another economically and operationally strong year. Sales passed $93 million, discounts to members were just over $1.5 million, and we still were able to pass $1.8 million through to the bottom line to invest in our co-op’s future growth.

The most exciting element of that growth is our new Redmond store, scheduled to open in May 2006. This new location represents a healthy extension of our Eastside trade areas to the east and north of our Kirkland and Issaquah stores.

We are pleased that our co-op has continued its financial health at a level to enable us to fund our new Redmond store out of accumulated cash reserves, avoiding the significant interest expense that comes with borrowing those funds. Strong performance and support from our members and shoppers make this internal re-investment pattern possible.

We are also looking ahead to additional large-scale improvements in certain neighborhoods. Our efforts in 2005 in pursuit of a rezone with the City of Seattle will allow our Seward Park store to legally expand to a size similar to our stores in Fremont, Issaquah and Redmond. We will be looking for similar opportunities in other neighborhoods where our members are concentrated to continually strengthen all of our stores.

These improvements are possible because of the continued satisfaction you find at our stores and how our fine staff executes the many programs at the store and community levels.

In 2005, we also continued our commitment to running a sustainable business. Our largest initiative in 2005 was the pursuit of a gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard in the design and construction of the Redmond store. No grocery store, to our knowledge, has achieved this high an environmental rating.

In the coming years, PCC will face increasingly sharp competition from national conventional grocery stores, as well as natural foods chains. We will be working diligently to improve our delivery of the strongest offering of organic foods while emphasizing the local supply lines closest to our agricultural roots in the Pacific Northwest.

We will continue to stand for the highest level of quality in all that we do. Thank you for making 2005 a year we can all be proud of.

Thank you all for making 2006 another very successful year for this outstanding locally owned and community-focused cooperative.

Tracy Wolpert
CEO, PCC Natural Markets