The
Wirth Cooperative Grocery, which has been in progress for nearly four years, is getting closer to becoming a reality.
Although a site for the coop hasn’t been finalized, the plan is to locate it in North Minneapolis’s Harrison neighborhood, according to coop board member Jenny Warner. The North Side is “an area that really needs this amenity,” she says. “It could use a business that creates that kind of communal space.”
But instant results aren't to be expected. “For any organic process it takes time to build those relationships,” she says.
Right now, the coop is working on a business plan and trying to increase membership--efforts that a $30,000 McKnight Foundation grant helped fund, she says.
The coop has nearly 100 members, with new people signing up all the time, thanks to word-of-mouth, she adds.
The coop is also carrying out focus groups with community members to figure out what it will offer. The products, which will include fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats, need to be affordable.
“We have a culturally and economically diverse neighborhood, so we really are trying to do our best to meet its needs for fresh, healthy food,” she says.
She expects that the coop won't look like others in the community. “We hope it looks like something that nobody has seen before,” she says. “We hope it reflects the community’s needs and we want everyone to shop there, not just people who are used to going to coops.”
The board, which draws volunteers from all over the city, aims to open the coop on Earth Day in 2013.
Source: Jenny Warner, Wirth Cooperative Grocery
Writer: Anna Pratt