Wasatch Food Co-op (WFC), Salt Lake City’s first community-owned grocery store, opens Wednesday at the Milk Block in Liberty Wells after nearly two decades in the making.
Why it matters: Co-op grocery stores have gained popularity in many U.S. cities since the 1960s as consumers become more conscious about where they spend their money and how those dollars are reinvested in local communities rather than large corporations.
How it works: Like many food co-ops, WFC operates under a member-owner model, where members have a say how the store is run, who serves on its board, and what’s stocked on shelves, Danielle Fisher, a secretary for the board of directors, told Axios.
- Profits are either reinvested in the store or community or paid back to member-owners as dividends, she noted.
The intrigue: Only about 5% of vendors at a typical grocery store are local. At WFC the rate is 20%.
- Some businesses include Publik, Baby’s Bagels, Sweet Lake Biscuits & Limeade, Bewilder Brewing and Argentina’s Best Empanadas.
Catch up quick: Plans for the store were first envisioned in 2009 by a group of residents. Today, the co-op has over 2,000 members…