You Are Where You Eat

The rise of The Vancouver Co-Op

By Eric A. Johnson

A corporation is like a great white shark—it has no known predators, it has to keep moving forward or it dies, and it feeds with impunity on smaller creatures—even its own kind. By comparison, a co-op is like a school of fish, working together to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals.
 
“It’s hard, in a way, to play the devil’s advocate,” explains Sunrise O’Mahoney, interim chairperson for The Vancouver Food Co-Op, “because most people, when they hear what we’re doing, that we’re a store that promotes ‘local’ and you have a voice in what your store is like, people have a hard time arguing with that.”
 
I ought to admit right off the bat that writing this objectively was difficult because I’m unabashedly pro-Vancouver Food Co-Op in the same way I am all for bringing MAX to Vancouver, all for staving off global warming, and all for saving sea turtles. It’s kind of a no-brainer.
 
What isn’t a no-brainer for most people, however, is what exactly a co-op is. As defined by the International Co-Operative Alliance (ICA), a proper co-op is “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise”. 
 
The ICA further explains that, “Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.” (Visit the ICA site to learn more about international co-op principals.)
 
Sounds great, but what does it all translate to when you put theory into practice?
 
When asked what makes a co-op a co-op, Stuart Reid of Food Co-op 500 and Holly Jarvis, a 14-year Portland Food Front Co-Op manager, both answered the same way. “They are all very similar, but all very different”, said Reid, echoing Jarvis’s sentiments and sounding like a Zen koan.
 
One suspects that the reason it is hard to get a simple answer out of anyone who is hip-deep in a co-op culture is that each co-operative is formed by a unique group of individuals in a wide array of economic and cultural environments. If you lived in a community of vegan atheists, for example, chances are you’d be hard pressed to sell hamburger or Virgin of Guadalupe votives in your store.
 
So, again, what is a food co-op? Well, think Wild Oats on a small scale. Think community supported agriculture. Think local dollars staying local. 
 
You could easily walk into Food Front Co-Op in Northwest Portland, for example, and have no idea that it’s not in just another health food store. The term “co-op” simply denotes a different type of ownership structure—community ownership.
 
“It’s not just somebody coming in from out of state, or out of the area, saying this is what you want and then taking the profit,” O’Mahoney explained. “Instead, we listen and we take that input and make it into a store.”  
 
“It’s active shopping where members/owners have a say,” she said. “Once we have a store, and once we are making a profit, all profit above and beyond expenses gets paid back to the members.”
 
REI is a good example of a well known co-operative venture that gives back dividends to its member shoppers. Sounds great, right? So, what about the Vancouver Food Co-Op? When’s it going to open? Eaaaaasy, Flicka. We’ll get there.
 
The Vancouver Co-Op began its efforts in 2003 when O’Mahoney and fellow WSU student Heather Lehman—who had national and international experience with co-ops—conceived the idea of starting a store here in Vancouver.
 
In true grassroots style, they printed up fliers and canvassed the Vancouver Farmers Market with a table and a sign-up sheet to get a feel for peoples’ reactions.
 
“We had a really good response from day one,” said O’Mahoney, “so we just continued.”
 
Within a year they had an official board of membership but no real idea how to proceed. They established not-for-profit status, underwent a lot of infrastructural changes, and tried to learn from the example of other success stories, most of which were opened in a different time under different rules.
 
In 2005, they found Stuart Reid of Food Co-Op 500, a group specifically designed to enable faster and more efficient start-up processes for retail grocery co-ops
 
“The days where you could just find a space and set up shop are over,” Reid uttered emphatically. “It’s much more involved now.” 
 
Around approximately the same time the group linked up with Reid, they were made aware of a matching funds grants available to startup co-ops. The group hadn’t asked for any monies up to that point, so they sent queries in an attempt to raise enough cash to qualify for the grant. They raised $2,000 initially and received the matching grant for another $2,000. 
 
To date, The Vancouver Co-Op has raised approximately $21,000 and comprises 90 owners/members. They are in the process of developing feasibility and market studies to establish hard facts for the public. The initial question of “if” the co-op will open has become “when.”
 
When asked about support from The City of Vancouver, O’Mahoney responded, “The city has had people who have been very supportive, but the support has been limited by what they can do.”
 
“This has to be community supported,” O’Mahoney added. “We could win the lottery tomorrow and we still wouldn’t open the store without community support.”
 
Stephen M. Burdick, former Director of Economic Development for the City of Vancouver, has submitted a letter of support that can be viewed on the group’s website.
 
“This is an area in which more and more ‘creative class’ people are residing,” said Burdick. “The food co-op is exactly the type of grocery that this highly educated and food-quality conscious group of people are demanding.”
 
According to the co-op’s board, the store will ideally be located in the heart of downtown, south of 33rd Street, east of Kauffman, and west of I-5. The group is looking for a site that is 5,000 to 10,000 square feet.
 
“The two major setbacks to establishing a co-op in Vancouver are funding and organizing,” explained Jarvis. Establishing consensus within a diverse group of personalities isn’t easy. But one thing is clear—the impetus is there.
 
“The feel of a co-op is just different,” O’Mahoney explained. “You go into one, and you tend to know the people working there. You have pride it in because it’s something you helped create.”
 
The easiest way to support the efforts of The Vancouver Food Co-Op is to buy a membership share; lifetime memberships are $180.00 and can be paid in full up-front or in three annual installments of $60.00. Once a member, you will be able to participate in the voting process and join the debate about the future of Vancouver’s co-op.

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The Vancouver Food Co-Op
694.FOOD
vancouverfood.org

Peoples Co-Op
3029 SE 21st Street
Portland, OR 97202
503.232.9051
www.peoples.coop

Food Front Co-Op
2375 NW Thurman St.
Portland, OR 97210
503.222.5658
www.foodfront.coop

The Alberta Cooperative Grocery
1500 NE Alberta St.
Portland, OR 97211
 503.287.4333
www.albertagrocery.coop