Dear Deep Roots Market Community,

Greetings from my flower-filled office! J&S Farms just dropped off another load of spring flowers and I got giddy buying flowers for my new “sister sanctuary”. This is a space I created on a thin patch of grass down the side of my house to celebrate the beauty of sisterly love, which has seen me through my hardest times. I have been so busy for years planting a “food forest” in my yard, that I have neglected my first love, flowers. Now I have a sweet little spot to sit and restore my soul surrounded by beauty.

Spring is always an exciting time at the Co-op. We are past the chaos of the holidays and year-end business, we have an anniversary to celebrate, Earth Day (our favorite) and the Annual Owners Meeting, oh and FLOWERS! This spring is extra special. We are super excited to open up parts of the Co-op that have been shut down since last March due to the pandemic (Hot Bar and Bulk to start). We have also started paying back owner loans!

The intensity of the pandemic has slowed a bit. There are still out of stocks and potential disruptions to production, but the emergency feelings such as a coworker’s COVID exposure or not having any chicken delivered seem to have subsided quite a bit. This does not mean that we are lowering our cleaning and masking standards! The virus is still spreading in our community and we want to keep everyone as safe as possible, which means we still want to provide ease of service in getting you in and out as fast as we can. We will not reopen the Café or the Community Room until the spread had ended. Those outside dining/meeting options are great though, so please enjoy!

Your Co-op is staffed with a well-seasoned team now. These beautiful people have shown up when most of the world was at home. We had all of the same feelings, fears, doubts, and worries as everyone else. I am super proud of them and all they bring to our table. We will be shutting down the Co-op for a day in May (Monday the 31st) to host a staff retreat led by Community Leader Lyndon Rego. Our focus will be on how we serve, Co-op culture, personal and professional development. My goal is to do this yearly as we grow and cultivate our team while building careers and an ideal work environment while spreading cooperation all over this beautiful community. If anyone wants to make a contribution to the staff retreat as a token of gratitude, please email me at gm@deeprootsmarket.com.

I have an abundance of gratitude for the staff, owners, guests, and vendors of the Co-op. Thank you for voting with your hard-earned dollars and keeping Deep Roots Market alive and well.

See you in the aisles,

Nicole Villano, GM