The prospect of a new grocery store coming to North Minneapolis should be a welcomed one with the large geographic region currently being served by just one full service grocer for some 60,000 or so residents; but even before the store opens there are questions as to if it can be sustained.
That’s because the new store set to open late this year at the corners of Penn Avenue and Golden Valley Road inside the newly constructed Commons at Penn is a cooperative grocer, Wirth Cooperative Grocery. And while the Commons has 45 apartment units, which should provide ready traffic, the question still remains will others in the neighborhood support the grocery store where the prices will in some instances be higher than the area chain store. Those who pushed for the store to come to a currently barren region and who are committed to the store’s success say residents will support Wirth because Wirth will in turn be supporting the neighborhood.
“For eight years we’ve been talking about food and food justice using the cooperative principle as a guideline. People have been excited since the first pop-up co-op in the Harrison Neighborhood,” said Candy Bakion, board chair of the Wirth Cooperative. “We’ve got 650 members. People are interested in this dream.”
As a cooperative, anyone is welcome to shop at Wirth, but the cooperatives are member based, with Wirth’s membership at a one-time fee of $100. Members then have “ownership” or a share of the co-op and are entitled to various discountsat Wirth Co-op Grocery and other participating Twin Cities grocery co-ops, along with regular coupon mailers. Members can also vote or run for board seats. Recognizing that a $100 fee may be a burden to some who are already under financial constraints, Wirth offers a $15 buy-in for those receiving WIC, SNAP, Minnesota Care, Minnesota Medical Assistance or Social Security Disability Insurance. The remaining $85 would be earned through future owner equity patronage refunds.
All that may be a lot to take in for someone intent on just buying some milk, tomatoes and strawberries. That’s why one advocate said the success of Wirth depends on how people identify with the store.
“People have Target and Wal-Mart and others you’re competing with, so that food (at Wirth) has to have a better story than any other thing out there,” said LaDonna Sanders-Redmond from Seward Cooperative, diversity and community outreach manager for Seward Community Co-op. “(You’ve got to get people saying things like) ‘Kristel works there and she has kids and I’m going to support her.’”
Sanders-Redmond was referring to Kristel Porter who is a board member of the forthcoming co-op. In addition to Porter’s connection to Wirth, the store plans to hire from within North Minneapolis.
Sanders-Redmond said it is with good reason the food may be priced higher than at a chain store. Quite simply, she said the quality of the product is superior.
With most co-op grocers, the meats, dairies and produce are locally – or close to locally – sourced and are almost always organic – free of artificial food additives, non-genetically modified and grown without the use of syntheticpesticides. These foods are widely accepted as being better for human consumption and oftentimes are said to taste better.
In getting people to buy into organic consumption Bakion said they are marketing by using the accepted vernacular of the surrounding neighborhood.
“I said in a board meeting we’re not going to call it organic, we’ll call it ‘O.G.,’” said Bakion. “We’ve got to get creative in telling this story and getting buy-in.”
“We have to get politicized about this; about buying food at a higher price. That’s a huge piece of the conversation,” said Sanders-Redmond.
Raynardo Williams, store manager of the Friendship site of Seward Community Co-op, said he is using nontraditional techniques to bring attention to his store. He said he has hosted seminars for African-American women on natural hair care and cooking classes to bring in traffic – traffic that often buys while there.
“You have to understand what it is that your community wants,” he said.
For more information of the Wirth Grocery Cooperative, including membership and employment opportunities go to www.wirth.coop.
