Co-op Market Grocery & Deli is KUAC’s April Featured Sponsor
Co-op Market Grocery & Deli began as a grass-roots effort and has grown to a full-service natural foods cooperative. The co-op is KUAC’s featured sponsor for April 2018.
In addition to offering organic and natural foods and products, the co-op provides a market for local farmers and producers in an open, community-centered environment.
When it opened in March 2013 in the former Carr’s Foodland building, the shop was welcomed to what had formerly been a food desert, downtown Fairbanks. Today, the co-op boasts 3,600 invested owners. But ownership is not required for shopping there; everyone is welcome at the co-op.
Through community programs like “Lend A Hand” and “Shop & Share,” the co-op supports the community that supports it. Lend A Hand chooses 12 local nonprofit organizations that receive donations from customers who round up their bill to the next dollar. With Shop & Share, people can choose from a list of seven healthy foods to purchase for families in need.
Local meat, potatoes and microgreens are available year round, as well as wellness products like soaps, tinctures, herbs, chaga, tea and coffee. In the summer, the store’s produce section overflows with Alaska-grown vegetables and herbs. The rest of the year, organic produce is provided from Mexico, the Northwest and West Coast growers. All of the produce at Co-op Market is either organic or local or both.
The co-op, which has experienced strong sales growth in its five years, employs 30 people. Co-op shoppers’ passion for education and information dovetails with public media’s mission.
Governed by an elected board of nine, the co-op likes to pay homage to its founding visionary, the late Dave Lacey, a local activist who believed strongly that a food cooperative could serve the community well.
Co-op Market is located at 526 Gaffney Road. Visit coopmarket.org for more information.
