Believe it or not, village groceries are an endangered species in Vermont. Talk to folks you know in Barre or Northfield about what life is like in town now that the village's grocery is gone... people miss the central gathering spot, the convenient location, the contact with neighbors. Residents are working hard to bring grocers back to their towns, but struggling to turn the tide in this difficult economy.

Fill out a survey
Like taxes, we have short or long forms to choose from: Take the 5-minute version -- this gets us good information to kick-start our efforts.  If you can, instead do the 15-minute version -- this one gives us all of the above information, plus help us think about areas we need to target over the longer term.  Click here to fill out either of the surveys.

Consider yourself an ambassador
Have you visited RJ's recently? Seen some of the changes RJ has already been making? Glad to see that RJ's is still carrying the same items you've come to rely on? Be sure to tell your friends about it when any opportunity arises! It's hard for a community to build new habits -- your encouragement could be the thing that gets that prospective shopper through the door!

Do you work for the State of Vermont in Waterbury or for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters?
These are two big groups of prospective customers we don't feel we've been able to connect with. We hope to do some focus groups or additional survey work in the not-too-distant future. If you'd consider giving between 5 minutes and an hour in the next few months, we'd love your time!! To help in this way, just send an email with your name and contact info, as well as your employer, to become part of the list we're developing for planning in this area.

Join the advisory committee
RJ is hoping to develop a longer-term advisory group that can keep his vision for a community market developing and coming closer to fruition. Probably this will mostly involve something like a monthly meeting and informal conversations with acquaintances to gather ideas and feedback to bring back to the group. If you could help out this way, send an email with your contact information and interests here.

Volunteer in the store
RJ hopes to have food sampling and demonstrations in the store on a more frequent basis -- to build food excitement and inspiration. Would it be fun for you to hand out samples or develop food for sampling? If you would like to volunteer in this way, email here with your contact information and interests.

Do you have energy or expertise to share?
We're just beginning this process and our guess is that our community has lots of talents and energy we don't even know we could benefit from yet. If you have skills or energy that will benefit this process, and are willing to share, please let us know! Email here with your contact information and some ideas about how you might be able to help.

Get your products into the store
Are you a food producer or processor? Maybe RJ's would be a good fit for selling your product. If you're interested in finding out more, please email here with your contact and product information.