Just Food Co-op celebrates 10 years
By Grace Webb, from the Radish, story link here.
Walk into Northfield’s Just Food Co-Op and you’ll find a store packed with shelves full of organic foods and aisles full of customers. You can find just about anything you need, from organic cat food to fresh-grown vegetables harvested from farms only miles outside of town.
Shoppers have the opportunity to do more than just fill their carts, since Just Food is a co-op that’s responsible to its members—all 2,800 of them.1 As Just Food Co-Op celebrates its 10th year in Northfield, it is finding more and more ways to support the community that supports it.
Co-ops are different than regular grocery stores because co-op members buy into the business by paying a one-time fee and then have the opportunity to participate in its governance. Members can sit on the co-op’s board and help make decisions about the best way to run the business. In addition, Just Food Co-Op is involved with other co-ops from across the state in an effort to work together and improve co-ops for every Minnesotan.
The Just Food Co-op has taken the idea of community and thrived. The co-op was started 10 years ago by a group of Northfield residents who knew the value of a good co-op and wanted to start something like that in town. There had been other attempts to start a co-op throughout the years, but the Just Food Co-Op was the first one to succeed. It started with 650 members but has grown to 2,800 members, starting the 2014 financial year with $6 million in sales.
Many Thanks to Our Sponsors over the Years
