Saint Paul, MN – National Co+op Grocers (NCG) — the business services cooperative for retail food co-ops nationwide — today announces its board has approved three new members: Kensington Community Food Co-op (Philadelphia, PA), Gem City Market (Dayton, OH) and Wild Onion Market (Chicago, IL).
“Co-ops not only provide people with access to fresh, healthy foods, they empower and help build thriving communities by keeping decision-making and profits at the local level,” said C.E. Pugh, NCG’s CEO. “We’re thrilled to have these three co-ops join NCG and we look forward to supporting their work for many years to come.”
The additions expand NCG to 154 member co-ops operating more than 220 storefronts in 38 states with combined annual sales of $2.4 billion. The new members are:
Kensington Community Food Co-op (Philadelphia, PA)
Kensington Community Food Co-op (KCFC) is a start-up co-op founded in 2010 to serve the River Ward neighborhoods in Philadelphia in multiple ways: increase access to fresh, high quality and local foods, create good jobs for neighborhood residents, establish a community-oriented space for neighbors to gather and learn, keep profits local and drive investment in the community. After opening its retail location in 2019, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic combined with operational challenges resulted in the co-op closing in late 2022. After a fundraising drive, Kensington recently reopened to the public in 2023.
Gem City Market (Dayton, OH)
Gem City Market is start-up co-op located in Dayton, Ohio, that first began organizing in 2017. It opened its store in May 2021 with a mission to serve, engage and empower neighborhoods by providing affordable, high-quality food in a clean and welcoming environment that is worker and community owned. Gem City is a multi-stakeholder co-op with three classes of membership: workers, consumers and sponsors. In addition to providing a full-service grocery store, Gem City Market features a teaching kitchen, community room, mini health clinic and a coffeehouse. The co-op has annual sales of approximately $2.6 million.
Wild Onion Market (Chicago, IL)
Wild Onion Market is a start-up co-op that will serve Chicago’s Northside. The co-op began organizing in 2014 with a mission to cultivate a thriving, community-owned grocery store that connects people to fresh, local food and to each other. Wild Onion Market expects to open its first retail location this summer in the Rogers Park neighborhood with projected first-year sales of $3.1 million.
About NCG
National Co+op Grocers (NCG), founded in 1999, is a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCG helps unify food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power, and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 154 member co-ops operate more than 220 storefronts in 38 states with combined annual sales of $2.4 billion. NCG is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence and a certified B Corp. Find map of NCG member co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit grocery.coop.
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Media inquiries may be directed to Eric Davis (edavis@curiousplot.agency, 612-424-7545).