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Allan Gordon, Chief Executive Officer of Hastings Co-operative Limited shares his thoughts with us.
It is with great pleasure that I write this foreword for our centennial feature.
As a community Co-op we are proud of our heritage and enthusiastically look forward to our future.
If you look back over the history of the Co-op, it has always had a willingness to embrace change and to look for avenues to improve for its many shareholder members and customers.
From a dairy and cheese Co-op to the many businesses that we have today, our gratitude must go out to the leaders of the Co-op that have gone before. It is testament to their foresight that the Co-op has stood the test of time and reached the great milestone of its centenary.
As the current CEO, the Board and I are the current custodians of this legacy that has been entrusted to us by shareholder members.
Over the last 100 years we’ve gone from strength to strength, both in size and diversity of product and services, however, we have never lost sight of the importance of the local community to the continued success of the Co-op. Through your continued support, we will remain successful.
The retail experience of 10 years ago is completely different to that of today and the pace of change is rapidly accelerating.These changes will require the Co-op to be far more flexible than we are today and we will need to embrace emerging technologies and different industries so that we continue to meet the expectations of our customers well into the future.
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Just like our fore-fathers before us who embraced different industries to meet the needs of its members, we must do the same today.
What I have learned through my time as CEO is this Co-op and its members are a tenacious bunch, fiercely proud of our heritage, of our place in the community and the prosperity we bring to the Hastings Valley.
The Co-op may be 100 years old, but we are young in our thinking, enthusiastic in what we do every day and proud of what we have achieved.
I would also like to acknowledge our staff. They are the true face of the Co-op; the hard working and dedicated people who are up early in the morning getting their businesses ready for trade or working late to ensure everything runs smoothly. They are the people who provide the customer service and the sense of “family” that the Co-op is famous for.
It is this feeling of belonging that our staff and customers exhibit every day that holds us in good stead in times of adversity and in the good times. I sincerely thank them for being part of the Co-op family and embracing what the Co-op stands for.
To our suppliers, who have supported the Co-op in times of adversity and in the good times, I would like to sincerely thank you. Without your support over the last 10 years the Co-op may not have made its centenary and for this we are eternally grateful.
As you read the great articles and stories that make up this lift-out, I hope that they will bring back memories for many of you and provide a source of education and inspiration for those of you who may not know much about the Co-op.
We have achieved a lot over the last 100 years and we still have a lot to do. With your continued support, patronage and loyalty, I am looking forward to what the future holds.