Saint Paul, MN – National Co+op Grocers – the business services cooperative for food co-ops nationwide – today announced its board unanimously approved making its six associate member co-ops full NCG members.
NCG established its associate member co-op program to support small and/or emerging co-ops with select benefits and access to NCG services. As full members, the co-ops will now have full voting and ownership in the co-op and access to all services.
The six new members are:
- Daily Groceries Co-op, Athens, Ga. Founded in 1992, it is the only downtown Athens co-op, featuring more than 1,200 members and annual sales of $1.4 million.
- Good Earth Food Co-op, St. Cloud, Minn. Established in 1971, it originally operated on campus at St. Cloud State University. Today, it serves more than 2,100 members with a 4,320-square-foot store that sees $2.6 million in annual sales.
- Just Local Food Co-op, Eau Claire, Wis. Opened in 2007, the co-op today serves more than 1,300 members out of a downtown, 1,40-square-foot space with $1.7 million in sales.
- Natural Abundance Food Co-op, Aberdeen, S.D. Celebrating its 42nd year, the co-op has nearly 1,000 members with annual sales approaching $1 million in a 2,800-square-foot store.
- Spiral Natural Foods Co-op and Grocery, Hastings, Minn. Now 41 years old, Spiral features more than 1,400 members with $1.2 million in annual sales for a store with1,872 square feet.
- Whole Earth Market Co-op, River Falls, Wis. Located in a small college town 30 minutes southeast of the Twin Cities, the co-op opened in 1973. Today, it has $1.1 million in sales and more than 1,000 members.
“We congratulate these co-ops for their incredible work over the decades to bring fresh, healthy and delicious food to their shoppers and build strong, sustainable communities,” said C.E. Pugh, NCG CEO. “Their membership in our national cooperative makes us all stronger.”
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 147 member 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 co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit www.welcometothetable.coop.
###
Media inquiries may be directed to Eric Davis (eric@harvest-pr.com; 612-424-7545).