The Gloucester Service of Southern States Co-operative, Inc., has announced its sales volume for the past year was up.

Gloucester store manager Desmond Owens reported sales volume of $9,903,535 for the 12 months ending June 30, 2012, up $460,516 over the previous year. The annual meeting was held on Oct. 14 at the farm of Richard "Bubba" and Angela Leigh on New Quarter Farm Lane in Gloucester.

Owens said that the local sales volume was paced by agricultural supplies, which he described as its core business. In some other areas, Southern States has a large petroleum business, but that is not offered here.

Besides in-store sales of many types of farm, lawn, garden and home items, Owens said, the local store delivers fertilizer and lime to customers’ fields, as well as crop protection including fungicides, herbicides and insecticides.

At the meeting, attended by about 100 people, Owens said that district manager Lloyd Van Sickle spoke about overall South...