Staff
Profile:
Gayle Anderson
by Christy Articola
Gayle Anderson has been a part of the
Coop for over
30 years. She began as a part of the original buying club — she and her
partner
were initially involved in that, and things simply evolved from there.
Gayle
started as a member worker and soon became a weekly worker, and
eventually found
her way onto the Board. In 1985 she joined the staff, and she has been
a part
of our staff ever since. She is currently Honest Weight’s produce
manager — a
position she has held since the position was created in the late 1980s.
As produce manager, Gayle
is not
only responsible for general management of the produce department and
for
ordering all our produce, but she also determines pricing and decides
which
items to promote each week. Over the years, she’s also written a number
of
wonderful articles for the Coop Scoop about produce and
farming. Gayle
enjoys negotiating with our local farmers and visiting their farms. “I
love knowing
where our food comes from,” she says, “and getting to know the
different farmers!”
Her favorite part of the position, however, is the fact that it allows
for a
lot of creativity — particularly in the display aspects.
She explains that it is
exciting to
arrange the produce displays in an enticing manner, to put together
various
colors and textures in patterns pleasing to the eye, and then step back
and see
how it all looks. “Basically,” she says, “My job is to make sure the
department
is profitable and that it looks good” — and, as those of us who visit
our
strikingly beautiful Produce department often would attest, she
undoubtedly
succeeds!
Gayle grew up in Cazenovia,
New York, and first came to the Albany area to
attend SUNY
Albany, where she graduated with a double major in mathematics and
Latin.
Besides working at the Coop, she also has experience working in a
bookstore and
at craft shows. Her partner, Sid Fleisher, is a wood- worker, and the
couple
sold his products at craft shows during the early days of their
relationship.
For a time, years ago, the pair made their home in Clarksville
on a small farm, living the lives of homesteaders, living off the land
—
gardening and canning, with no running water — before moving to Troy, where they
reside
today with their pet goldfish.
Today, in her free time,
Gayle
spends a lot of her time gardening, birding and reading. She loves the
outdoors
and also has a hand in the current revitalization of downtown Troy. She enjoys
shopping at the Coop and
particularly likes our Westminster
oyster crackers, olives, organic Sicilian apricot and pear juices,
buttermilk
ranch salad dressings and “Anything ginger! And anything chocolate!”
Gayle
explains her three-decades association with the Coop this way: “In
being a part
of the Coop, you pretty much get to evolve. You don’t get told what to
do, and there
is room for creativity. You get to go as far as you want to go, and you
get to
explore things!” Gayle obviously loves her job as produce manager and,
based on
the success and popularity of our incredible Produce department, we
love her as
manager as well!
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