Holy smokes! Has it been a year already?
As we flip through the calendar, we see that it is, indeed, October. Enter pumpkin spice e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, puffy jackets and candy corn (either the best candy ever or the Devil’s earwax… the jury’s still out).
October is a big deal in our world. We are celebrating a big ol’ anniversary…. Newport Avenue Market has been employee owned for exactly one year. Being Central Oregon’s first grocery store wholly owned by employees is definitely something to celebrate.
What does “employee owned” even mean?
Technically, it’s called an ESOP, an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. ESOPs allow companies to set up a trust fund with shares of their own stock, which are then divided among individual employee accounts. It’s pretty awesome. Our employees are rewarded for their hard work and our store will remain locally-owned.
During the month of October, we’ve been celebrating the dedication of our 100+ employees. Movie tickets, gift cards, fitbits… Lauren and Joe have been throwing them around like confetti. Every single employee won something because every single employee matters.
Happy employees stay!
In a world full of “fly by the seat of your pants” job-hopping, we think it’s a pretty amazing that several of our employees have been with us for decades.
Billy is our most seasoned vet and has been with us since 1984! (Where were you in 1984? Watching the original Ghostbusters on the big screen? Turning up the collar on your Izod? Putting your Cabbage Patch Kid to bed? Perhaps you weren’t even a twinkle in your parents’ eyes yet.) Billy is married to Jody, our Housewares manager. She joined our ranks in 1988. And the rest, as they say, is history. They met at Newport Avenue Market, fell in love and created a beautiful family together.
Let’s not forget about Stephen and his round-the-clock, megawatt smile. He’s been an integral part of our work family since 1987. Man, we love that guy.
And that’s what it comes down to at the end of the day… we’re family here.
We’ve seen struggles, awesome moments, births, deaths, fresh starts, retirements, dreams unfolding and everything in between. We love each other. We support each other. Newport Ave Market is successful because of our devoted employees. They are the true rockstars of the world.
So we give a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of them. We couldn’t do it without you.
