Rebranding Begets National Co-op Grocers

Iowa City, Iowa-based National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) has unveiled a new brand identity and name, National Co+op Grocers (NCG).

According to NCG, the changes better represent the organization’s role as a business services cooperative owned by more than 140 retail food co-ops working together to grow the cooperative economy and serve more communities nationwide.

Since 1999, NCG has been working on behalf of its member and associate food co-ops to strengthen purchasing power, optimize operational and marketing resources and ultimately offer more value to food co-op owners and shoppers. As the natural foods industry continues to evolve and grow, NCG recognizes that it must do the same.

“NCG is not a typical trade association, which often focuses on public relations, marketing and networking services for their membership,” said Robynn Shrader, CEO. “Although we do provide these services to our co-ops, we also negotiate purchasing contracts, execute national promotional strategies and offer a wide range of development services through our subsidiary Development Cooperative (NCG DC). Our role is really more that of a virtual grocery chain.

“Whether advocating for food policies in Washington, D.C. or helping the banking community understand the cooperative business model, identifying as National Co+op Grocers helps us better reflect our relationship to our co-ops and our shared purpose,” continued Shrader. “Although the name, look and feel is new, our commitment to being a dynamic and transparent organization with clear and meaningful ways for our co-ops to participate remains the same.”

National Co+op Grocers has 143 member and associate co-ops that operate more than 190 storefronts in 38 states with combined annual sales of more than $1.7 billion.