The Hanover Co-op has gone beyond food sales to run two thriving auto service centers. Below, I’ll describe its model of offering honest repairs and valuable benefits to members and employees. But first, some announcements. 

Co-op Connects on Monday, July 7, 4 to 5 pm with the General Manager (GM) and one or two Council Members  

The monthly Co-op Connects, with GM Mary Mullally and me—and hopefully another Council member—will be Monday, July 7, 4 to 5 pm. Please stop by to talk about the future of the Co-op or chat about whatever else is on your mind. Look for signage about where to find us. We’re taking August off from these gatherings and will return on Saturday, September 6, 11 am to noon. 

Your Voice Matters! Help Shape the Co-op’s Future—Register Now 

Reminder: The Dinner and Discussion scheduled for this coming Monday, June 23 is hosted by the council. We need your input on the Co-op’s future! Please join us. Registration is open until June 19 at 8 pm. 

Hanover Co-op’s Side Business with Auto Service and Gasoline 

Vermont households spend more than $3,200 on transportation fuels annually, according to a 2023 report. In addition, a car requires hundreds of dollars of service and maintenance each year. What if we could make all those purchases from a co-op that we own? What if your co-op could be your trustworthy mechanic? That’s an approach they’ve taken at the Hanover Co-op, where three grocery stores and two auto service centers operate under the same co-op umbrella.  

Co-ops are remarkably versatile—they can be anything members need them to be.  

In the mid-1990s, a small auto repair shop and gas station in Hanover, New Hampshire became available for purchase. The location was ideal for the co-op: adjacent to their grocery store. At the same time, the co-op was looking for opportunities to expand its service to the community. Six years ago, with business thriving and no room to expand on site, the co-op opened a second service station in Norwich, Vermont—just over two miles away.   

In May, I visited Jimmy Kidder, the service center manager, at their Norwich location. Kidder started working there in 2011, as manager, at a time when the co-op had doubts about the financial viability of the service center. “They gave me a year to see what we could do,” he said. “Now we have two service centers. And instead of three bays, we have 13 bays. And so, we’re helping out a lot more people in the community.” 

He focuses on building trust and prioritizing customer service. “All of our technicians make an hourly wage. They don’t work off commission like at most places. Their paycheck is not dependent on if we sell you wiper blades, brakes, engines, services, or anything else. We are very middle-of-the-road for pricing. We offer a great warranty. Building trust makes people want to keep coming back.” 

The Service Centers recently upgraded their software systems to streamline and more easily capture membership information. In previous systems this was a cumbersome process done by manually entering receipts.

The co-op’s employees have a strong incentive to turn to the service centers: a 20% discount on parts and labor, interest-free financing up to $1,000 a year, and (for those working in the Hanover store) a two-minute walk to work after dropping off the car.  

This commitment extends to the wider community; the co-op has donated $6,000 to a local non-profit to provide vouchers for car service to individuals in need; the program has helped over 375 families, Kidder told me. 

Should a co-op be selling fossil fuels and supporting fossil fuel-driven transportation? It’s certainly not clear that our car-driven transportation system is compatible with a planet that supports billions of people. As long as so much is spent on cars and fuel, though, how about less of that revenue going to large corporations and more to co-ops? 

What about electric vehicles (EVs)? Kidder said they do a lot of work on EVs, but they don’t work on high-voltage systems. That may be an area of expansion in the future.

I’m not aware of any proposal for Hunger Mountain Co-op to operate a service station or sell gas, but I think it’s instructive to see where our sibling co-ops have found opportunities beyond the grocery store to “create and sustain…thriving cooperative commerce,” as our mission statement puts it. I hope these ideas spark conversation and creativity in our visioning process. 

What other opportunities should we explore? We want to hear your ideas! Remember, the June 23 Dinner and Discussion is kicking off a conversation about the future of our co-op and how we can best serve our community. What services or businesses would you like to see Hunger Mountain Co-op explore? What are your priorities for our co-op’s future growth? Please come! 

Previous stories in this series about the range of business models for co-ops: 

Willy Street Co-op in Madison, Wisconsin expands to three stores (and more!) 

A network of co-ops dominates the local economy in the Mondragon region of Spain 

Metamorphosis of the Plainfield Co-op 

The Wrap 

Q: Why did the Hanover Co-op send one of their mechanics to art school? 

A: So she could learn to make a van go.

—Carl Etnier, Council President

Do you have any questions or comments about the council? Do you know any jokes even faintly related to food and/or co-ops? Please email them to me!