Grocery Story

Jon Steinman - New Society Publishers

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Hungry for change? Put the power of food co-ops on your plate and grow your local food economy

This is the first book to capture the success and importance of the retail food co-ops in growing strong, resilient local economies
Interest in local food -- from community gardens to farmers markets -- is growing exponentially.
The logical next step is to address the most penetrating strand of the food economy, supermarkets
A compelling case for the transformation of neighborhood grocery stores for good food and stronger communities
The author is a journalist who hosted and produced the internationally radio show syndicated on 50 stations and podcast "Deconstructing Dinner" which has had nearly 2 million listens.
Food co-ops are a proven model for communities who have lost their neighbourhood food stores
Not only do they offer a solution for "food deserts," they also bring systematic changes to local economies and increase low-income access to food
Features stories from co-op successes throughout North America including...

International

Author makes mention of the U.K.'s Co-op chain - one of the largest co-ops in the world. IHe also make considerable reference to the U.K. grocery store sector and brief mention of Australia's dominant grocers.

Food Co-op Directory
U.S. Co-ops Featured in Grocery Story
     Renaissance Community Co-op (Greensboro, NC)
     Weavers Way Co-op (Philadelphia / Ambler, PA)
     Co-op Food Stores - Hanover Co-op (Hanover / Lebanon, NH / White River Jct, VT)
     City Market (Burlington, VT)
     Apple Street Market (Cincinnati, OH)
     Viroqua Food Co-op (Viroqua, WI)
     Clifton Market (Cincinnati, OH)
     Weaver Street Market (Carrboro / Raleigh / Chapel Hill / Hillsborough, NC)
     Isla Vista Food Co-op (Santa Barbara, CA)
     PCC Community Markets (Seattle metro area, WA)
     River Valley Food Co-op (Northampton, MA)
     Outpost Natural Foods (Milwaukee, WI)
     Central Co-op (Seattle, WA)
     Park Slope Food Co-op (NYC)
     Durham Co-op Market (Durham, NC)
     Great Basin Community Food Co-op (Reno, NV)
     Wheatsville Co-op (Austin, TX)
     Purple Porch Co-op (South Bend, IN)
     Seward Community Co-op (Minneapolis, MN)
     Harmony Co-op (Bemidji, MN)
     Brattleboro Food Co-op (Brattleboro, VT)
     Wedge Co-op (Minneapolis, MN)
     Monadnock Food Co-op (Keene, NH)
     People's Food Co-op (Portland, OR)
     North Coast Co-op (Aracata / Eureka, CA)
     Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op (Sacramento, CA)
     Community Food Co-op (Bellingham, WA)
     Portland Food Co-op (Portland, MN)
     Buffalo Mountain Food Co-op (Hardwick, VT)
     Davis Food Co-op (Davis, CA)
     Mississippi Market (St. Paul, MN)
     Wirth Co-op (Minneapolis, MN)
     Willy Street Co-op (Madison, WI)
     The Merc Co-op (Lawrence, KS)
     Hunger Mountain Co-op (Montpelier, VT)
     Berkshire Co-op (Great Barrington, MA)
     Detroit People's Food Co-op (Detroit, MI) - not yet open
     Westwood Food Co-op (Denver, CO) - not yet open
     Middlebury Natural Foods (Middlebury, VT)
     Three Rivers Market (Knoxville, TN)
     Franklin Community Co-op (Greenfield / Shelburne Falls, MA)

Brief Mentions
     Community Food Co-op (Bozeman, MT)
     Common Ground Food Co-op (Urbana, IL)
     Potsdam Food Co-op (Potsdam, NY)
     French Broad Food Co-op (Asheville, NC)
     Green Top Grocery (Bloomington, IN)
     Oryana Natural Foods Market (Traverse City, MI)
     Valley Natural Foods (Burnsville, MN)
     Putney Food Co-op (Putney, VT)
     Littleton Food Co-op (Littleton, NH)
     Common Market Co-op (Frederick, MD)
     Eastside Food Co-op (Minneapolis, MN)
     Chequamegon Food Co-op (Ashland, WI)
     Food Front Cooperative Grocery (Portland, OR)
     Mariposa Food Co-op (Philadelphia, PA)
     People's Food Co-op (La Crosse, WI / Rochester, MN)
     Bloomingfoods (Bloomington, IN)
     La Montanita (Santa Fe / Albuquerque / Gallup, NM)
     New Pioneer Food Co-op (Iowa City / Cedar Rapids / Coralville, IA)
     Menomonie Market Food Co-op (Menomonie, WI)
     Flatbush Food Co-op (NYC)
     Sevananda Natural Foods Market (Atlanta, GA)
     Upper Valley Food Co-op (White River Jct, VT)
     Swarthmore CO-OP (Swarthmore, PA)
     Moscow Food Co-op (Moscow, ID)
     Open Harvest Co-op Grocery (Lincoln, NE)
     Boise Co-op (Boise, ID)
     The Old Creamery Co-op (Cummington, MA)
     Placerville Food Co-op (Placerville, CA)
     Hub City Co-op (Spartanburg, SC)
     Sugar Beet Co-op (Oak Park, IL)
     Ever'man Cooperative Grocery (Pensacola, FL)
     Coos Head Food Co-op (Coos Head, OR)

Student
     People's Market (Amherst, MA)

Recently closed but mentioned
     Amazing Grains Food Co-op (Grand Forks, ND)
     Clintonville Community Market (Columbus, OH)
     East Lansing Food Co-op (East Lansing, MI)
     Good Earth Market (Billings, MT)
     Missoula Community Food Co-op (Missoula, MT)
     Glens Falls Food Co-op (Glens Falls, NY)
     Baltimore Food Co-op (Baltimore, MD)
     River City Food Co-op (Evansville, IN)
     Dubuque Food Co-op (Dubuque, IA)
     Company Shops Market (Burlington, NC)

Hungry for change? Put the power of food co-ops on your plate and grow your local food economy.

Food has become ground-zero in our efforts to increase awareness of how our choices impact the world. Yet while we have begun to transform our communities and dinner plates, the most authoritative strand of the food web has received surprisingly little attention: the grocery store—the epicenter of our food-gathering ritual.

Through penetrating analysis and inspiring stories and examples of American and Canadian food co-ops, Grocery Story makes a compelling case for the transformation of the grocery store aisles as the emerging frontier in the local and good food movements. Author Jon Steinman:

Deconstructs the food retail sector and the shadows cast by corporate giants
Makes the case for food co-ops as an alternative
Shows how co-ops spur the creation of local food-based economies and enhance low-income food access.

Grocery Story is for everyone who eats. Whether you strive to eat more local and sustainable food, or are in support of community economic development, Grocery Story will leave you hungry to join the food co-op movement in your own community.

"Food System" Defined
Preface
Note from the Author: Big Food
Introduction

[1] Rise of the Grocery Giants
   A&P — The First of the Giants
   Other Giants Emerge
   Self-Service
   Regulating the Rise of Big Business
   Expanding the War on Chain Grocers
   Enter the Supermarket

[2] Retailer Market Power
   Taming the Chains
   The Giants Break Loose
   The Accelerating of Supermarket Dominance
   Regulating Market Power Today
   The Generational Effect and Self-Reinforcing Apathy

[3] Food Prices and the People Who Grow Our Food
   The Farm Crisis of the 1980s
   The "Farm Share" and "Marketing Share" of Our Food Dollars
   Squeezing Food Dollars Through Bottlenecks
   Farm Value vs. Retail Price
   Eaters Pay the Price for Concentrated Markets
   Mergers Decrease Prices Paid to Farmers
   The Most Extreme Expression of the Farm Income Crisis

[4] Grocery Stores — The Food System's Control Center
   Shaping Food — Literally
   Losses in Flavor
   Cosmetic Requirements and Food Safety
   Genetic Diversity
   Food Standards as Buyer Leverage
   Standards and Food Waste
   Marching Orders for Suppliers
   Suppliers Finance Their Own Servitude
   Category Management
   Pay to Play, Pay to Stay
   Is It Bribery?
   Private Labels (Deliberately Anonymous)
   Barriers to Entry
   Setting Food Policy
   Eaters at the Controls

INTERLUDE
Welcome to What's Possible, North America
Welcome to Resisterville (Nelson, British Columbia)
Grocery Giants in Nelson
The Regional Food Movement
Viroqua, Wisconsin

[5] Enter the Co-op
   What Is a Co-op?
   Mission-Driven and Transparent
   Resilience
   History of the Cooperative Movement
   The First Consumer Co-ops in Canada and the United States
   The Empowered Consumer

[6] The Food Co-op Waves
   The Consumer Wave
   The New Wave
   The New Wave Grows Up
   The Newest Wave
   Beyond Natural Foods — Co-ops for Low-Income Communities

[7] Consumer Food Co-ops Today
   There's Nothing Cookie-Cutter About Food Co-ops
   Food Co-ops as Community Centers
   Education
   Kitchen Skills Training
   Children's Programming
   Co-ops in Schools
   Food Access
   Inexpensive Meals for Community Building
   Community Giving
   Nonprofit Arms
   Positive Workplace
   Working Members
   Cooperation with Local Businesses
   The Co-op Footprint
   Community-Owned Good Food Media
   College Town Co-ops
   Governance and Ownership
   Profiles of Board Directors at Food Co-ops
   Engaging Members in Their Co-op
   Diversity
   Social Cohesion
   Activism
   On Prices
   Unleashing Potential

[8] Co-ops as Food Desert Remediation
   Greensboro, North Carolina
   Cincinnati, Ohio
   Other Stories of "What's Possible"
   Starting a Co-op Isn't a Shoo-In for Success

[9] Food Co-ops and the Local Economy
   Easier Access to Eaters
   True Local
   The Language of "Economic Development"
   Food Co-ops as Economic Development
   Local Food System Stimulation
   Anchors for Main Street
   Retention and Rearing of Community Leaders
   A Different Kind of Profit

[10] Local Foodmakers — The People Behind the Products
   Co-ops as Small Business Incubators
   The People Behind the Products
   Where Does Your Food Dollar Go?
   Planning the Co-op Shelves with Local Producers

[11] Threats to Food Co-ops
   Fierce Competition
   The Co-opting of "Local"
   The "Whole Foods Effect"
   The Demise of Co-op Atlantic
   Closed
   Relevance
   Ideology
   Institutional Isomorphism
   Member Engagement

[12] Growing Food Co-ops, Growing the Movement
   Start-ups
   Financing Food Co-ops
   Co-ops Supporting Co-ops

Epilogue: Where Do We Go from Here?
Acknowledgments
Grocery Story's Supporters
Endnotes
Index
About the Author
A Note about the Publisher

Subjects