...no, not THAT Nikki.

My name is Nikki… no not THAT Nikki.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land called Minnesota, a tiny guitar/piano virtuoso wrote a song about a girl named Nikki. I am NOT that Nikki (and please don’t go look up the lyrics to said song) however, I wanted to bring your attention to a few things that I’ve learned from this late great Minnesotan: Ownership, Creativity, and Community.

Ownership

Own stuff. It's okay to rent, or to use other people’s stuff as needed, but until you take literal and figurative ownership of these things, you have no say so in the decisions that govern the stuff that you need. If you create music, and someone else owns that music, then you have no voice in how that music is used or sold.

In terms of Spiral Food Co-op, I’m an owner because I know that I need the goods and produce provided by the co-op, and I want my voice to be heard with regard to the store. I want to know where my eggs, my salmon, and my bananas come from. I want the decisions about what supplements are offered to be made using input other than the shelf cost of the supplements. I don’t want to be offered the cheapest thing just because it’s the easiest or quickest for the manufacturer to produce in bulk. I want decisions to be made based on what’s best for me, my family, and my community. That’s why I’m an owner. If you are not currently an owner, and you are curious about what it requires (payment plans, monthly discounts, etc), please don’t hesitate to ask the cashier or call our general manager. If you shop at least once a month and have not yet joined, you are missing out on some awesome deals!

Creativity

The purple yoda is famous for encouraging people to “try to create, just start by creating your day, then create your life”. A lot of folks are working from home due to the current pandemic and this is the absolute perfect time to bolster creativity at home. Take an online guitar, photography, or painting class. Do something that you didn’t have time or patience two months ago when time was moving so fast and the grind was kicking so hard.

Spiral Food Co-op, being a relatively small co-op, has more produce and goods available than most other big stores. What kinds of new breakfast, snack, lunch, or dinner menus can you create? We have rice, beans, bananas, broccoli, dates, oranges, apples, yogurt... the list goes on. What would happen if every shopper created a new dish once every week with just a few staple ingredients? I’ll do it If you do it. If a newly created dish turns out to be a family hit, share it with our Marketing Director, marketing@spiralnaturalfoods.coop, so that she can share it with our community of shoppers (giving you all of the creative props, of course)!

Community

His royal badness was a humanitarian to the 1000th degree. We don't know how much he gave away to those in need because he didn’t want recognition for it. I believe that if he were here today during this pandemic, he would remind us to take care of others as well as ourselves. Not every member of this community has the ability to work from home, some are on the frontlines as doctors, police, fire fighters, grocery workers, postal workers, repair workers, and some are out of work altogether.

Did you know that Spiral Co-op was one of the first local stores to offer curbside pickup? The store continuously attempts to address shopper needs because that’s the most important thing to us in the midst of an ever-changing situation. Did you know that individual food co-ops donate an average of 24,000 pounds of food to their communities, annually?

You’ve probably noticed that Spiral participates in a ‘Round Up’ program every month. That’s because we understand the importance of giving back and re-investing in the local community. Do you like it when the cashier or the produce manager knows your name when you enter the store or that they leave their cashier station to help you to your car with your grocery boxes? That’s what we are here for. We know that we can do great things together, that we are, and will always be, better together.

And remember, don’t go google that song … I recommend the song about the colorful rain instead.

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Nelson, P. R. (2019) The Beautiful Ones. Spiegel & Grau.