Calgary Co-op has a new CEO, who’ll take the reins of a co-operative that in recent years has seen an earnings loss followed by a rebound, store closures, acquisitions and a public breakup with its supplier that sparked a lawsuit.
“I think we got to start by listening and we got to hear what members want from their Co-op,” said new CEO Andrew Clarke, a 30-year retail veteran, on CBC Radio’s Calgary Eyeopener.
That includes the high cost of groceries, and ensuring members feel they’re getting value, he said.
But some, including longtime members, have raised questions about some of Co-op’s business decisions.
Calgary Co-op has more than 400,000 members, making it one of the largest retail co-operatives in the country, according to its website.
Clarke joins the grocer after its previous CEO left more than a year and a half ago.
In recent years, it’s made a number of headline-generating moves. It broke with Federated Co-operative in 2019, switching to the same food supplier of fellow grocer Save-On Foods.
Major acquisitions followed, with the purchase of Willow Park Wine & Spirits in 2023, and a majority stake in an Ontario-based pharmacy chain, Care Pharmacies, the year after that.
One analyst who has studied Calgary Co-op said he thinks in some ways, members are being treated more like investors, rather than part-owners under the co-op model.
“If we look at when co-ops go off the rails … it’s [when they] become disconnected from the user interests of their members, right?” said Marc-André Pigeon, director of the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives.
Positive earnings, but debt load rising
Pigeon says he looked at this year’s earnings with a “degree of concern.”
Calgary Co-op pulled in a $6.1-million profit last year, following a $10-million loss in 2024.
“[They] got a small profit, but that’s attributable to some asset sales,” Pigeon said. “If they hadn’t sold some assets, they would have been in a loss position again, as they were [the previous] year.”
The 2025 earnings show net proceeds of $29 million that came from disposal or writeoff of property and equipment. The earnings report points to “write down of obsolete assets in renovated food centres and gas bars.”
Co-op brought in $16.7 million in 2023 and $38.7 million in 2022.
Long-term debt is also growing, hitting $413 million in 2025, up from $378 million the year prior.
“I would have said three years ago, they had a nice, very stable relationship with debt,” said Pigeon.
But he says the pharmacy chain investment changed that. Calgary Co-op entered into a three-year credit agreement for it in 2024 that will mature next year.
When it comes to patronage — the payments members receive as part of the co-op model —members earned $16.9 million in 2025. In 2024 those payments totalled $17 million; in 2023, $21 million.
CEO calls Calgary Co-op an ‘institution’ in the city
Clarke started his career at grocer Marks & Spencer in the U.K., before taking on a number of senior positions, largely in retail.
“As I started to learn about Calgary Co-op, I realized this is an institution in Calgary,” Clarke said as to why he was drawn to the role.
The easy access to mountain skiing was a bonus, he added.
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He said the 2025 earnings show the company is “back on a better footing,” but acknowledges more needs to be done.
Financials still need to improve, he said — but more importantly, it’s about listening to members and improving their experience at a time he said customers are reporting cost of living is a key concern.
“We’ve got to build from here, and I think that starts with serving members better,” Clark said.
“We have got to do a better job of explaining how we can deliver value across a number of the retail banners that we own as Calgary Co-op and then passing that value onto our members more effectively.”
Clarke said one of the changes he brought on before officially assuming the role of CEO is a price-matching program.
But retail analyst Doug Stephens says that incentive does not always work with shoppers.
“It signals that you are overpriced — and you know it — to the consumer,” Stephens said.
“It’s kind of a smoke signal that, hey, we are likely to be overpriced, and if you catch us, we will bend — which is fine to placate the super price-conscious consumer, but what it really does is it penalizes your loyal consumers who maybe aren’t quite as price-conscious.”
Transparency
One of the red flags to Pigeon when he analyzes the moves Calgary Co-op is making, alongside the details available in the earnings report, is the degree of transparency.
“Your annual report is your opportunity to communicate with your members and help them understand your strategic thinking. They’re your owners,” he said. “And I don’t see any evidence that they’re sharing any of this. They haven’t for years now.”
That perceived lack of communication is something that longtime member Terry Vulcano highlights as an issue.
“They’re not really sharing with us, saying: hey, look, this is good. This is why we’ve done it. It’s not making sense to me,” said Vulcano, who says he has been a member since 1970.
At this spring’s annual general meeting, Co-op member Trent Cherak put forth a motion calling for the board to provide a written explanation as to why a permanent CEO had not yet been found. Ultimately, the motion was not carried, and Co-op announced at the AGM it was getting close to finalizing the new hire.
He described the AGM as “a little tense.”
“It definitely feels like our local co-operative is being operated more like a corporation rather than a co-operative,” Cherak said. “And there’s concern there that when a company is operating as a corporation, it’s not for the benefit of member-owners.”
WATCH | Inside a ‘tense’ Calgary Co-op annual meeting:
Former NDP MLA Bob Hawkesworth also attended the AGM, and said he felt a sense of disconnect between members and the board due to lack of communication and distress over recent store closures. That was addressed at the AGM, he said — something that gave him a bit more optimism.
“Acknowledging the problem is the first step. And then how they actually address it — people will be paying attention in the year to come,” Hawkesworth said.
Hawkesworth ran unsuccessfully for the board just before the pandemic, motivated by his disapproval of the break with Federated Co-operatives.
“I understand the focus almost exclusively on the profit margins,” he said. “But in the process the membership is not being engaged and that may be the problem here — that people need to feel some greater connection and purpose beyond those patronage dividends they get.”
Former Calgary Co-op board member Terry Geib says patronage should not be the primary focus of a co-operative. She’s now the executive director of the co-operative Memorial Society, which does not offer a patronage to members.
“If you look at human behaviour, patronage is an incentive. It isn’t why people join, really,” said Geib. “It’s not the be all and end all.”
Looking ahead
Stephens, the retail analyst, said the grocery sector remains a “very, very low-margin sort of razor’s edge kind of business.”
Geib said she saw firsthand how tough the industry could be when she was on Co-op’s board from 2001-2016, and said rising prices have only made things tighter.
Ultimately, she remains a big believer of the co-op model. Calgary Co-op has grown and adapted before, and she says it will continue to do so to survive as the years go on.
In general, she says, older people tend to understand the model better. Younger people will often show interest once they learn more about it, but the problem is, many are unfamiliar with it.
Cherak, who put forth the motion at the AGM about the lack of a CEO, said in an email he’s looking forward to seeing what Clarke can accomplish.
“For Calgary Co-op to be successful, I believe Andrew and our Co-op must balance profitable execution while remembering our Co-op’s unique member-owner structure,” Cherak wrote.
The co-op model is what makes the grocery chain unique, Clarke said in a news release announcing his appointment.
“My job is to listen to what members want from their Co-op and then work with our teams to deliver it,” Clarke said.