PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Tuesday, May 28, 2010

Contact: Noel LaBine 763-477-3086

Lake Region Cooperative continues to expand

Wright County – The Lake Region Cooperative has been redefining its role in Wright County for some time. In the last two years they have done major remodeling of their stores in Buffalo , Cokato, and Maple Lake . A major driver of this effort is to get more sales inside their stores. Traditionally they have driven a large share of their sales from fertilizer and fuel. That is still the case. What is different is the decreasing profit margin from the sales of those products.

The recent work at the Maple Lake store is part of the ongoing effort to get more sales inside their stores, where the mark up on the shelf retail items is a larger percentage of costs than the markup on the fertilizer and fuel. The retail space size in Maple Lake is impressive; it will have 11,500 square feet by the time it is done. At this time the contractor, Bauer Design Build, is completing the inside remodeling for a 4,000 square feet grocery area that will include fresh produce, dairy products, breads, and grilling supplies including fresh meats from McDonald's, the popular meat retailer from Clear Lake. The McDonald's line will include ground beef, specialty sausages and chicken breasts. Also included in this space will be the “Mean Gene's Grill”, a local supplier of sandwiches and other lunches to go.

When manager, Mike Murray, was asked about the success of the expansion efforts, he quoted an interesting statistic. Last year, they did an extensive remodeling effort of their store in Cokato. They doubled the size of the store and added the “Mean Gene's Grill”. These efforts resulted in a 30% increase in the sale of fuel at the pumps and a doubling of their overall sales there.

The Wright County Partnership on behalf of Wright County wishes to thank Lake Region Cooperative for having a successful business in Wright County .

The Partnership exists to enhance the business climate of Wright County and to help create more jobs in Wright County . The strategies the Partnership uses to achieve its mission include being an information resource and finding technical assistance; aiding business development through Business Retention & Expansion visits, providing financing resources, and providing business information and training through seminars and workshops. Also, the Partnership markets Wright County to business site locators, and maintains an excellent website, which includes a listing of commercial and industrial property available in Wright County (see www.wrightpartnership.org ). The Partnership also has gathered economic statistical information, which is available on its website.