“What does a food co-op in your community mean to you?”

THE NEXT STEPS TO OPEN OUR DOORS!

Since the announcement of our selected site in May of 2024, the Board of Directors and dedicated volunteers have spent countless hours to prepare for our next phase of development, Stage 3A Pre-Construction and Community Investment Campaign where we will:

• Finalize budget and plans for store design and building

• Launch owner Community Investment Campaign (CIC)

• Accomplish our goal of raising $1.5M through the CIC

• Secure external funding for remainder of needed capital

• Hire a General Manager

Why ask our Co-op Community to invest?

Cooperative grocery stores look first to their owners to build a solid base of investment. On top of this base, grants, donations, and other sources round out the funding needed to open a store. Because of their unique legal structure, co-ops have the ability to raise capital from owners through preferred shares and donations. Traditionally, food co-ops raise the capital required to open their doors from owners. In our case, 24% of our funding, or $1.5M, will need to come from donations and investments from owners like you and is critical to the long-term financial success of the Co-op. Capital raised from owners allows you the opportunity to exercise the cooperative principle of Economic Participation, as well as the opportunity to invest in our local food system, which builds a more ethical, resilient, and sustainable supply chain and is a unique opportunity for our community. Plus, owner investments are more flexible and less expensive than bank financing, making the co-op financially stronger. Owner investments also allow us to apply for grants that require matching funds.

Currently, the total funding required to open our store is $6.2 million. The cost to build the store is coming in at around $5.3 million. We are currently submitting multiple grant applications, and will also be working with future vendors to take advantage of any credits they offer to new stores. Repaying loans or other commercial debt is not viable for the Co-op’s financial projections, so the goal is to raise as much funding as possible from the sources listed here. We are currently forging relationships with organizations that provide no to low interest loans if the case arises that we will need to bridge funding gaps.

In these critical and immediate next steps of developing a grocery store from the ground up, we need to fund multiple necessary tasks and processes at the same time, all of which happen before we see any physical progress on our site. This includes predevelopment costs such as continuing our contract for professional project management from 45 North Group, hiring an architectural firm and store designer, schematic design, and site preparation. We then can acquire bids from construction companies that will further impact our funding needs, finalize our external and internal store design including layout, materials, shelving, coolers/freezers, equipment, and more, as well as officially close on the purchase of our site. The pie chart to the right is a cost breakdown of all of our uses and the total projected cost for these items.

Both pie charts are subject to change as industry costs change or are solidified through contract. The “Sources” chart is currently based on estimations in our pro-forma, guidance given to us from national food co-op consultants, and our project manager from 45 North Group.

As a co-op owner, you have a unique opportunity to invest in your values through a company you already own with your friends and neighbors! Working together to pool our resources in support of the co-op will help directly improve the well-being of our whole community through increased access to local, wholesome, organic foods and goods.