Calgary Co-op, which held its annual general meeting on Thursday, reported sales of $1.55 billion for the fiscal year ending November 1, 2025 compared to $1.48 billion the previous year.
It reported net earnings of $6.1 million compared to a net loss of $10.04 million the previous year. Its long-term debt rose to $413.46 million from $378.62 million the year before.
Sales in the Food category rose to $568.4 million from $552.56 million while sales for Pharmacy of $338.7 million were up from $242 million the prior fiscal year. The Petroleum category saw sales dip from $429.4 million in 2024 to $392.1 million last year.
Recently, the grocery chain, with more than 400,000 members, closed two of its stores in the city.
The company said it would not give media interviews at their AGM.
Michael Kehoe, Broker of Record with Fairfield Commercial Real Estate, said the brand is the local hero on the local retail scene with its clustered grocery stores, gas bars, Wine Spirits Beer and Cannabis outlets.
“The greater Calgary regional trade area is a battleground on the grocery retailing front, with gorilla-sized competitors like Costco, Superstore and Walmart,” said Kehoe who was attending the AGM.
“For a regional player with a local scale the industry is a ‘Darwinian’ struggle at the best of times. These are not the best of times with grocery shoppers and for Calgary Co-op that trades in an ultra-competitive retail category in a low-margin capital intensive business and the challenges I am sure are daunting.
“Many Calgarians and residents of the city’s satellite communities are Co-op members and shoppers. As a Co-op member for 40 years, I am hopeful that the firm’s leadership and a solid corporate strategy will keep our loyalty to this storied retail brand.
“Retail sales performance year over year is the true test of a retail brand and its leadership. As Confucius once said, “we live in interesting times.” These certainly are interesting times at the Calgary Co-op.”
According to Co-op, due to “overwhelming” interest in the 2026 AGM, the company reached the venue’s room capacity and it restricted the meeting to voting-eligible members only. A member is eligible to vote at the Calgary Co-op Annual Meeting if they have purchased a one-dollar Calgary Co-op membership in the fiscal year ended November 1, 2025.
The grocery chain did not publicly release its annual 2025 report or annual 2025 financial results until just prior to the meeting.
Attendance at the meeting was 241.
Total sales for the year ended November 2, 2024 were $1.48 billion. Total sales for the year ending on October 28, 2023, amounted to $1.303 billion, compared to $1.284 billion in 2022.
In the 2024 fiscal year, the company’s net loss was $10.043 million compared to net earnings of 16.7 million in 2023 and $38.67 million in 2022.
A proposal before the AGM asked that the grocery retailer provide a written statement to all member-owners regarding the long period without an apparent permanent CEO. The company has been without a permanent CEO since the departure of Ken Keelor in October 2024.
But Co-op said at the meeting that they are close to hiring a new CEO with an announcement possibly coming in the near future.
The proposal asked the Calgary Co-op Board to provide a written statement to all member-owners (via mail, email, or other direct letter to all member owners) acknowledging this matter, identify why a permanent CEO has not yet been found since Ken Keelor’s departure, and outline a plan and reasonable timeline for hiring a new CEO.
More from Retail Insider:
- Proposal before Calgary Co-op AGM seeks clarity on CEO position
- Calgary Co-op closing two of its food stores
Shopping at Calgary Co-op the last while feels off. Staff seem disinterested. Products are older and not fresh. Lots of stuff is close to the expiry date. They carry Western Family brand and Seltions brand (if I wanted those brand I’d go to Save on Foods or Metro). Calgary Co-op should lean hard into its Cal&Gary brand products. Gives people a reason to visit the stores. Since they’ve left the federal co-op the products are very generic and not competitively priced
Shopping at Calgary Co-op the last while feels off. Staff seem disinterested. Products are older and not fresh. Lots of stuff is close to the expiry date. They carry Western Family brand and Selections brand (if I wanted those brand I’d go to Save on Foods or Metro). Calgary Co-op should lean hard into its Cal&Gary brand products. Gives people a reason to visit the stores. Those Cal&Gary products are unique and priced fairly. Since they’ve left the federal co-op the products are very generic and not competitively priced
I agree with your comments.
There’s something about last night’s Calgary Co-op AGM that doesn’t reconcile.
Let’s stick to facts.
– ~500 seats in the room
– ~241 members present
– Electronic voting system failed four times
– After ~1 hour 45 minutes, the process shifted to manual voting
First, a visible show of hands (green cards):
From the floor, it appeared roughly split — more than 100 members supporting, more than 100 opposing.
Because it was close, the meeting moved to a paper ballot.
Final reported result:
– 45 in favor
– 171 opposed
Those numbers were announced by the Chair.
—
Here’s the issue:
How does a visibly split room — observed in real time by members — translate into a nearly 4:1 outcome under a paper ballot?
Maybe there are explanations:
– Public vs. secret voting behavior
– Counting limitations from the floor
– Member drop-off late in the meeting
But when:
– A voting system fails repeatedly
– The process changes mid-meeting
– And the final count is not visibly verified in the same way
…it raises a simple question:
Can members have confidence in the integrity of the process?
This isn’t about winning or losing a vote.
It’s about whether a 400,000+ member co-operative is operating with transparency, consistency, and trust in its most important forum.
Because if members can’t rely on the process…
what exactly are they left with?
Financials…Without the cash proceeds and gain on sale of assets (proceeds $65M, gain $30M), the story would have been very different. Nothing like shrinking your way to greatness.
Calgary CO-OP pretty much sold themselves out to the competition (Save on Foods). The products are overpriced. Close to the expiry date and the same generic brands you can buy at Save on Foods for less. Staff are so disinterested wherever you shop there. Whole experience feels lacking and not thought out anymore. Calgary CO-OP once had a strong hold in the Calgary market but took advance of that. Can’t see the conditions at the CO-OP improving anytime soon. You can tell it’s just chugging along holding on without leadership who cares.