Are you an East Side resident who would like better access to local, fresh, organic foods? Would you like to feel a better sense of community with your fellow East Siders?

Want to join?  Here is our membership form.

If you’ve never shopped co op before, here are a few things to know:

  • Co ops are, be definition, owned by their members; they are cooperative organizations where everyone has a say in how the business is run, and when there is a profit, the money is either re-invested into the store, or else the profit is split among the members. Unlike a chain store, the profits stay IN the community!
  • Food co ops don’t always carry the same foods. The co op stocks the types of foods that will best serve the local community.
  • Because co ops are owned by their members, it takes 2000 or more committed people to open a storefront. For this reason, it can take a few years to get the co op up and running. It takes a vision, determination, and dedication to open a co op, but it is possible, and people are doing it all over the world!
  • You do NOT have to be a member of the co op in order to shop there! Co ops are not elitist or exclusive. Everyone is welcome. Membership provides discounts and benefits and of course membership is always encouraged—but never forced!
  • Membership required either a financial or a volunteer commitment, or both. Every co op has to decide for itself what the membership will entail.
  • Because the process can be long, co ops often start out as buying clubs, without a storefront. Members of the club pool their money in order to buy high-quality, organic foods at wholesale prices. This may be a great option for the East Side until we have the membership for a storefront.

We are in the very beginning stages of this truly grassroots process, and we need the help and support of everyone on the East Side to make it happen! Please join us and consider volunteering to help see this vision into reality!

To sign up for updates, email eastcoop@gmail.com.

For more information, check out these great resources:

http://www.foodcoopinitiative.coop/

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/cir7/cir7rpt.htm

http://www.cgin.coop/how_to_start

http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/manual/cover.html

http://www.coopdirectory.org/bp003.htm