Saint Paul, MN – National Co+op Grocers (NCG) — the business services cooperative for retail food co-ops nationwide — today announces its board has approved five new members.
The approval represents one of the largest one-time expansions of NCG’s membership in recent years and includes new member co-ops across the country, from California to Vermont. They are:
- Food Shed Co-op (Woodstock, Illinois) — Food Shed Co-op is a start-up co-op, originally founded in 2014 with current plans to open in late 2023. The co-op has 1,640 members and continues to actively recruit new members and investment. The co-op hopes to break ground for its retail location as soon as they finalize financing.
- Lovettsville Co-op Market (Lovettsville, Virginia) — Lovettsville Co-op Market (LCM) is also a new start-up co-op that has been organizing since 2011 and is currently planning for a mid-June opening. As of March, LCM has 875 members and has raised more than $3.2 million from member investments or loans. The co-op is projecting total sales of $4.2 million in its first year of operations.
- New Orleans Food Co-op (New Orleans, Louisiana) — New Orleans Food Co-op is another relatively young co-op, founded in 2002 and first opening its store in 2011. The co-op has approximately 2,000 members with sales nearly $2 million.
- Placerville Food Co-op (Placerville, California) — Placerville Food Co-op (PFC) was formed to convert a privately owned natural food store into a consumer co-op. The co-op has been operating since 2011 and has annual sales of $2.7 million.
- Rutland Area Food Co-op (Rutland, Vermont) — Rutland Area Food Co-op first opened in 1994 and currently operates with sales volume of $2.1 million. The co-op serves 1,900 active members and is currently exploring future relocation as it plans for growth.
NCG now has 159 member co-ops operating 228 retail locations in 39 states with Louisiana now featuring an NCG member.
“Communities are stronger when they have access to fresh, healthy food delivered by community-owned food co-ops,” said C.E. Pugh, President and CEO of National Co+op Grocers. “We are excited to welcome these new members into our national co-op and look forward to working in cooperation to serve their communities and grow the cooperative economy.”
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 food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 159 member co-ops operate nearly 230 storefronts in 39 states with combined annual sales of $2.5 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, 612-202-9407).