Farm co-op plans store in east Vancouver

Wilco Farm Stores, a retail outlet operated by an Oregon-based farm cooperative, has begun renovation of a former grocery store that will serve as the cooperative’s first Vancouver store.

A long-closed former QFC grocery store at 1901 N.E. 162nd Ave. will become a retail outlet for the store’s selection of products that appeal to both farm and suburban customers. The $1.5 million renovation should be complete and the store ready to open by early- to mid-August, said Jake Wilson, marketing and communications manager for the Wilco Cooperative, based in the rural Willamette Valley town of Mt. Angel, Ore. The store will have about 35 employees, Wilson said.

Wilco operates 15 stores, with a dozen in Western Oregon and Washington stores in Battle Ground, Kelso, and Gig Harbor. The stores all have five departments: lawn and garden; work wear and footwear; True Value hardware products; pet supplies and food, including a pet grooming shop; and livestock and fencing. The Vancouver store will be the first to have an indoor garden center, Wilson said.

“We’ve been looking for facilities in the east Vancouver area and this one fit what we needed,” he said by email. “It has the store size needed, adequate parking and enough overall space for the outside fencing yard. We also like the location on the east side of Vancouver where we can be accessible to those who live on property as well as those who have pets or a garden in the city.” The popularity of the Battle Ground store was another reason to locate in Vancouver, he added.

While Wilco Farm Store has the appearance of a big box retail store, it comes from a very different history than conventional retail outlets. In contrast to the Wall Street investor owners of giant chains, the Wilco farmers cooperative that operates the stores was formed in 1967 through a merger of five smaller agricultural cooperatives aiming to remain relevant to their members, Wilson said. The merger was “very progressive” at a time when others were maintaining the status quo or disbanding, Wilson said.

The co-op, operated by a board elected by its members, now has about 3,000 farmer owners, the majority of them in Oregon and Washington, Wilson said.

Expanding retail offerings to draw new members and earn income from nonmember customers has become one of the cooperative’s strategies. While the co-op remains true to its focus on serving the needs of its farmer members, Wilson said only about one-third of sales are to its own members. The current strategy is to add one to two new stores a year, he said. The cooperative also operates seven agronomy service and product centers, including one in Chehalis, to serve agribusinesses.

While some comments on the company’s social media sites about the Battle Ground store say that the store’s prices are higher than those of competitors, Wilson has a policy of matching competitors’ prices. But, he said, the farm store emphasizes quality merchandise.

“Our goal is to carry high quality,” he said. “Those are not always the cheapest brands.”