Citizen's co-op

Citizens Co-op
Consumers' Cooperative
Industry Grocier
Founded May, 2008 (May, 2008)
Headquarters Gainesville, Florida, United States
Area served
 Alachua
Key people
 Gretchen Mcintyre, Elizabeth Nesbit
Products organic food
Members ~950
Website http://www.citizensco-op.com

Citizens Co-op was a food cooperative, or a community owned market located in Gainesville, Florida. A co-operative is defined as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.[1] It closed in 2016 due to financial issues.[2]

History

Gretchen McIntyre, Elizabeth Nesbit, Wesley Hogan, Noah Shitama, and Matt Vargas signed the Articles of Incorporation on May 1, 2008.[3] Founders Elizabeth Nesbit and Gretchen McIntyre were separately inspired by co-ops in other cities: McInyre by a visit to a co-op in Asheville, N.C, and Nesbit by touring various US communities in search for a new home and discovering co-ops.[4] After years of fundraising and spreading the word with events such as a benefit concert on April 25, 2009,[5] and receiving the final push they needed on April 23, 2011, when they met their goal of raising $15,000 through Kickstarter.com,[6] Citizens Co-op held its grand opening on July 15, 2011.[7]

Sustainable Practice

The Citizens Co-op was founded by local residents Elizabeth Nesbit and Gretchen McIntyre to make the food available for purchase in Gainesville more community-based.[8] Citizens Co-op aimed to provide a solution to food safety, environmental, industrial, and economical issues by promoting health and nutrition, increasing local jobs, providing naturally raised meats, allowing shoppers to support local economy, preserving seeds, maintaining low tillage and crop rotation, promoting biodiversity of species, and providing affordable organic food. Citizens Co-op supported local food from naturally grown, small-scale and family-farms and other local businesses to create a strong economic base in the community in order to move toward regional self-sufficiency. Profits were either distributed to members or reinvested in the company to better serve the community. Citizen Co-op’s model for business was based upon respect, mutuality, and cooperation; intentions of reaching out to the community in its entirety include offering financial options for lower income households, providing home delivery services for working families and elderly patrons, working with local non-profit organizations, schools, and other groups for productive social and environmental change, creating a distribution network for local farms to supply buyers with the freshest produce, and supplying a venue for any member to sell their goods in a supported marketplace. The co-op operated using environmentally sustainable processes such as solar panels, credits for reusing bags or containers, composting in-house waste, recycling, water conservation practices, and energy efficient lighting, heating, cooling, and equipment.[9][10]

Local Pledge

Citizens Co-op operated on a Local First policy by prioritizing their purchases from local and regional producers and vendors whenever possible. Food and products grown and/or processed within 150 miles of Gainesville were considered local while the borders of Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina were considered within its region. In addition to locale, they based their purchases on overall quality and freshness. Citizens Co-op was committed to building direct relationships with their producers and showed preference for sustainably grown and produced goods.[11]

Operations

Citizens co-op was a legal entity in the State of Florida that was structured to operate as a Cooperative. Its functions can be separated into:

  1. Local Food Grocery: “to provide a transparent food chain for the consumer so they can really understand where their food is coming from” - Elizabeth Nesbit.[12]
  2. Building a Community: "More than a grocery store, Citizens Co-op is a unique member/producer/worker-owned co-operative. We are structured to serve the needs of our diverse members as well as the local community."[13]

The Store

Citizens Co-op offered certified organic groceries: vegetables, fruit and meat from local producers as well as other locally made food and beauty products, supplemented by organic and fair-trade brand-name groceries and produce.[14]

Community Building

Citizens Co-op was motivated by more than selling locally produced food. Both Founders utilize the business as a means to "educate people about where their food comes from," and "be a central hub for the community to cooperate and serve as a platform for people to launch other businesses."[15][16] The goal of the Co-op was to promote a community centered on creative and sustainable business projects. Citizens Co-op aimed to provide a way to facilitate local eating, to ensure more money stayed in the community and supported Alachua farmers’ and neighbors’ livelihoods.[17] 100% of any profits was redistributed back to the development of the store and the community. There was no one individual owner reaping all the benefits, but rather it was dispersed across the members who all own the business equally. The financial goal of the co-op was to break-even only, after all expenses and investor dividends have been paid, not to turn excessive profits.[18] Portions of these proceeds went to various projects, including "Porters Garden" (planting fruit trees),[19] and "Citizens Cookbook" (with local recipes).[20]

Consumer Membership

Consumer members were partial owners and participate in the decision-making process for the business. To obtain this type of membership applications were necessary, along with payment.[21]

Producer Membership

Producer membership was specifically for the suppliers of the Co-op i.e. small scale and family farms within 150 miles of Gainesville, Fl.[22][23]

Employee Membership

Employee membership was an option for each employee at Citizens Co-Op as a means to empower and support the good work they do.[24]

Controversy

In 2014, after the firing of two longstanding employees from the co-op, four employees unionized and were fired for using a co-op email list that informed the co-op members about their intention to unionize.[25] The four unionized employees filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.[25] A year later, the co-op apologized for their actions after a final settlement agreement was reached between the Co-op, the Gainesville Industrial Workers of the World and the National Labor Relations Board.[25]

Closing

Citizens Co-op closed in 2016 due to financial issues.[2] The general manager, Kim Drummond, said it never fully recovered from the customer boycotts related to the aforementioned labor disputes.[2] The location and infighting between members were also cited as possible contributors for the store's demise.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "International Co-operative Alliance"ICA 2010.Link Text Archived 2007-03-14 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "As some groceries proliferate, Co-op and Earth Origins close". Gainesville Sun. 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  3. ↑ "Articles of Incorporation" Citizens Co-op.Link Text
  4. ↑ "Citizens Co-Op." Thefineprintuf.org. The Fine Print, 22 June 2010
  5. ↑ Phillips, Victoria. "Natural-food Co-op to Open." Gainesville.com. The Gainesville Sun, 24 Apr. 2009.
  6. ↑ Farnum, Desiree. "Citizens Co-op Opens in Gainesville." Thefineprintuf.org. The Fine Print, 1 May 2011. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  7. ↑ Clark, Anthony. "Planned for Years, Co-op Grocery Has Arrived." Gainesville.com. The Gainesville Sun, 12 July 2011.
  8. ↑ Phillips, Victoria. "Natural-food Co-op to Open." Gainesville.com. The Gainesville Sun, 24 Apr. 2009. Web.
  9. ↑ "A Cooperative Guide." Citizens Co-op. 2-6 Link Text
  10. ↑ "A Cooperative Guide." Citizens Co-op. 14-16 Link Text
  11. ↑ "Producer Information" Citizens Co-op. Link Text
  12. ↑ Farnum, Desiree. "Citizens Co-op Opens in Gainesville." Thefineprintuf.org. The Fine Print, 1 May 2011. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  13. ↑ http://www.citizensco-op.com/about
  14. ↑ Clark, Anthony. "Planned for Years, Co-op Grocery Has Arrived." Gainesville.com. The Gainesville Sun, 12 July 2011.
  15. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  16. ↑ Farnum, Desiree. "Citizens Co-op Opens in Gainesville." Thefineprintuf.org. The Fine Print, 1 May 2011. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  17. ↑ "Citizens Co-Op." Thefineprintuf.org. The Fine Print, 22 June 2010
  18. ↑ http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=7b29e457b772cafffbd25660e&id=aba73faa7a
  19. ↑ Farnum, Desiree. "Citizens Co-op Opens in Gainesville." Thefineprintuf.org. The Fine Print, 1 May 2011. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  20. ↑ http://www.citizensco-op.com/citizens-cookbook
  21. ↑ "Consumer Membership." Citizens Co-op
  22. ↑ "Producer Membership." Citizens Co-op
  23. ↑ Clark, Anthony. "Planned for Years, Co-op Grocery Has Arrived." Gainesville.com. The Gainesville Sun, 12 July 2011.
  24. ↑ "Employee Membership." Citizens Co-op
  25. 1 2 3 "Citizens Co-op apologizes to fired employees". Gainesville Sun. 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2018-06-28.

Coordinates: 29°38′50″N 82°19′29″W / 29.647299°N 82.324788°W / 29.647299; -82.324788

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