Iowa City, Iowa – National Co+op Grocers (NCG) — the business services cooperative for retail food co-ops across the United States — has added two co-ops to its membership, effective October 1, 2017.
The new members are Portland Food Co-op in Portland, Maine, and Sugar Beet Co-op in Oak Park, Illinois.
"Both co-ops have opened within the past four years and have grown rapidly in terms of membership, community impact and sales," said Robynn Shrader, Chief Executive Officer, NCG. “These co-ops are great examples of the thriving cooperative business model, and we are excited to work in close collaboration with them."
Portland Food Co-op – Portland, Maine
The seeds for Portland Food Co-op began in 2006 in reaction to the closure of an area, locally owned natural food grocery store. Operating initially as an all-volunteer buying club, the co-op opened its retail storefront in December 2014 as part of a contract with the NCG Development Co+operative. Today, it realizes $14.1 million in annual sales and has more than 2,900 owners.
Sugar Beet Food Co-op – Oak Park, Illinois
Sugar Beet Food Co-op is among several new co-ops emerging in the greater Chicago area over the past decade. First formed in 2012, with a focus on leading the Good Food Movement in Oak Park and surrounding neighborhoods, the co-op opened its store in August 2015 and now serves over 1,200 owners with sales over $3.4 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 148 member and associate co-ops operate more than 200 storefronts in 38 states with combined annual sales of nearly $2.1 billion. NCG is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence and a Certified B Corp. Find a map of NCG member and associate co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit www.strongertogether.coop.
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