Columbian Article 2011-02-25 February 2011

[Rory]

"Food Co-Op Blossoms: Vancouver program opens storefront downtown,
offers online ordering for members"
by Erin Middlewood, Columbian Staff Reporter, Friday, February 25,
2011
http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/feb/25/food-co-op-blossoms-vancouver-program-opens-storef/#c149925

The Vancouver Food Cooperative, a dream that dates back to 2003, is
starting to materialize.

It may only be open intermittently for pickup of online orders, but
the co-op has an actual storefront in the Wallis Engineering building
in downtown Vancouver.

“It’s step one. After all these years of talk, the food co-op is
moving forward,” said Kendra Pearce, the store manager. The co-op had
242 members at the beginning of the year, with hopes of adding 10
members a month.

“I’m really pleased this is finally happening,” said David Page of
Felida. He was the 35th member to join soon after the co-op was
formally incorporated in 2006. On Tuesday, when members stopped by to
pick up their orders, he was among them. He packed up broccoli, kale,
chard, cabbage, apples and bread baked that morning.

“We buy as much local as we can, even at a premium price,” Page said.

The same sentiment motivates Toni Buckley, who recently joined the co-
op.

“I prefer to buy local, rather than go to the grocery store and buy
something from Mexico,” Buckley said.

They are typical of the shoppers the co-op hopes to attract, said Kirk
Wright, a co-op member.

“The core of shoppers are people who are little bit less price-
sensitive. They will be the people interested in the product and where
it comes from and how it’s produced,” he said. A loaf of artisan
bread, for example, may cost almost $5, but it’s baked in Vancouver’s
Lincoln neighborhood.

Wright, a Vancouver business consultant, served with Page on the co-op
committee that worked to open the downtown storefront. Wright joined
the co-op about three years ago and became much more intensely
involved last year after some turnover in the board of directors. The
emerging leaders within the group have taken a hard-headed business
approach.

“There was a lot of enthusiasm that was not well-guided and the
organization came close to collapsing on itself,” Wright said.

“We began talking about the co-ops we had been involved with 20 or 30
years ago, and thinking, ‘What would be an analogous startup for 2010
or 2011?’ We came up with something that’s not quite a buying club,
with an online catalog,” he said. “What we’re doing is not ideal, but
it’s the first step down the path to a much more traditional shopping
experience.”

Anyone can place an order online at http://www.vancouverfood.coop for
pickup at the storefront, but members, who pay $180 to join, get 10
percent off. Most items come from Azure Standard, a Dufur, Ore.,
company offering natural and organic products. Pearce is developing
relationships with Clark County farms and companies, as well. Products
from Compass Coffee, Russell’s Bread and Northwest Organic Farm now
are in the lineup.

The storefront is open Mondays from 4 to 7 p.m. and Tuesdays from 11
a.m. to 2 p.m., and 4 to 7 p.m. Once the Vancouver Farmers Market
opens this spring, the co-op will add Saturday hours to complement the
market’s offerings.

“It seems like (the storefront) is getting the traction we hoped it
would,” Wright said. “It’s showing the people in the community who
were skeptical, wondering if it would ever happen, that it can.”