St Malo Co-op votes to merge with Clearview

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/05/2021 (1446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a unanimous vote from Clearview members and a near-unanimous agreeance from St Malo

members, the two Co-op locations are set to merge at the beginning of November.

For three days leading up to their annual general meeting members of St Malo Co-op had the chance to make their voice heard as to whether they wanted to amalgamate with the cooperative dominating the southeast quarter of Manitoba.

In a 97 percent vote in favour from members who cast a ballot, the move for the location’s estimated 2,300 members to join forces got the green light after St Malo approached Clearview about a possible amalgamation in 2019 and subsequent conversations between the two entities.

Denis Clement, president of St Malo Co-op, said before Clearview would consider the move to absorb the lone location in cottage country, the store had to turn things around for themselves.

“We had to do some hard work to make sure that people would want to merge with St Malo Co-op, because who wants a place where there’s a deficit and things are not as good as what they should be?” Clement said.

The store worked to implement changes and therefore turn a profit, resulting in a near 30 percent increase in sales over the last year.

Clement said while the jump in sales can be partially credited to the change in operations, the COVID-19 pandemic helped, rather than hurt, the business.

“COVID has been very good to us,” he said.

“People were staying in the area because they couldn’t really leave their homes, therefore they came to get their groceries and liquor with us. After they saw how we improved things, they kept coming back.”

With the merge members of the St Malo cooperative will now be stakeholders in Clearview’s operations. They will be able to bult equity and receive refunds from gas bars, food stores and hardware facilities across southern Manitoba. Clearview Co-op manages 18 sites across the region.