Reaching the Halfway Through Point: Building a Community-Owned Grocery Store
“Ooooh we’re halfway there! OooOooh living on a prayer!!” Thank you Bon Jovi!! It’s a song that often rings in my head as reflect on how far SoLA Food Co-op has come and the ownership growth numbers we’ve experienced over the last few years.
After nearly a decade of ideation and 7 years of selling ownership shares, SoLA Food Co-op has achieved a critical milestone; we are over 500 household member-owners strong. Expert research shows a successful food cooperative should have between 1000 - 1200 owners by store opening. We currently stand 560 household owners strong and counting. That’s 560 households that hold the vision of a community-owned grocery store, households that understand the benefits of a shared ownership model. As I reflect on my 5 years serving on the Board of Directors I recall joining the board when there were less than 100 member-owners of the cooperative and to arrive at this critical moment leaves me elated. Southern California does not have a multitude of cooperative businesses to point to and those examples are minimized even more so in South Los Angeles. To that end, we have had our work cut out for us. One member at a time, we are building a more cooperative culture, we are an act of resistance. We exist because the status quo is not sufficient.
Over the last few years, we homed our messaging. We dug our heels into the opportunity to educate our community on what it means to grow a more cooperative culture, what does it mean to have ownership of a grocery store in our community? The cooperative concepts might be foreign to our communities, but the concept of cooperative businesses is long-standing. Black cooperative business practices date back to the 19th century, to that end it is time to return to a business model that benefits our community. The idea of community-owned means we have more decision-making power with regard to who we hire, what types of products we sell in our store, sustainability practices, and where and how the profits from the store are reinvested into our community.
In the face of increased store closures in our South L.A. communities, SoLA Food Co-op is the solution we’ve been asking for. We hear the chants of “ Save Our Store” but in reality, the stores in our community do not belong to us, we do not benefit from the profits made at these stores, they don’t know our communities, they don’t know our names or the names of our family members, and ultimately the owners of these stores do not value our money. We have depended for far too long on companies outside of our community to solve our issues. Too many families traveling outside of the community to fulfill a basic need, such as putting food on their tables. We exist to serve our community and that will never change.
South Los Angeles has reached a critical moment in our history, we understand the need to keep and recycle dollars in our own community. We want to reap the benefits from our patronage. At this particular moment, I implore you to join this community-grown effort. Become an owner! Invest in your community! Join 550 households who have committed to a community-owned grocery store because now more than ever South L.A. needs SoLA Food Co-op. Help us get to store opening by the end of the year. Join now to reach 1,000 owners by the end of this year or sooner. As we have meetings with lenders and project teams to build out the store, we want to puff out our chest and proudly and unequivocally say “ We are community grown and community-owned!”
