North Side Food Co-op Strives for 'Sense of Community'

Imagine shopping at a grocery store that only carries local products with prices set by members of the community, rather than a corporation.

That’s exactly what a group is trying to start on the North Side,—a community-run grocery store, known as a food co-operative.

A food co-op is basically a large grocery store owned by a collective group of residents. Anyone can shop at the co-op, but members will receive special discounts. Its members are technically owners who buy in with a fee.

Building relationships with the community, member benefits, education and transparency are the concepts behind food co-operatives.

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Wednesday was the first of two community meetings about the Chicago Cooperative, where organizers wanted to gauge interest and start collecting volunteers. More than 50 people attended Wednesday’s meeting at the Chase Park Auditorium, 4701 N. Ashland Ave.

Former environmental lawyer Greg Berlowitz is spearheading the effort behind the Chicago Cooperative. The Rogers Park resident didn’t understand why the city didn’t have a food co-op, so when he found himself at a professional crossroads, he decided to start one.

His reasons for taking on the co-op were simple: he wanted to shop somewhere that benefitted the community, rather than shareholders.

“I care really intensely about where my food comes from,” he said. “…Sometimes those prices are exorbitant and I don’t like feeling that organic food is elite.

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While researching other co-ops, Berlowitz learned that creating the project wouldn’t mean starting with a small location in a basement, it meant a full service grocery.

He envisions a dairy, meat and seafood counter accompanying bulk items and local produce. He’s even gotten emails from local chefs wanting to sell prepared foods.

During the meeting, Berlowitz asked attendees to write down what they’d like to see in the grocery store. Ideas ranged from a childcare center while shopping to an on-site herb garden and more simply, good bacon.

Courtney Moran said she wanted a place to get fresh, local produce in the winter.

Moran works for Henry Brockman, a farmer from central Illinois that sells products in the Evanston Farmers Market.

Brockman largely pays Moran in food, but she has to turn to other resources during the winter. She wants the farmers’ market feel in a year-round grocery store.

“I want to feel a sense of community on a regular basis, not just on Saturday at the market,” she said. “It’s a crime there isn’t one in the city, there should be one in every neighborhood.”

While specifics will be up to the people who help create the project, Berlowitz said the key location would be between Foster and Irving Park from Western to Clark avenues.

Time is another uncertainty as most food co-ops take between 2 and 4 years to open. The two biggest challenges are raising enough kick-off funds, and creating a good organizational support group.

The support group is key in planning, he said. On March 7, Berlowitz will host another meeting March 7 at Sulzer Regional Library, 4455 N. Lincoln Ave.

From there, he’ll gather the people interested in forming a steering committee for the project. That group will hash out goals and organize the community’s wants from the two public forums toward the end of March.

The steering committee will eventually emerge into a board of directors, who will set policy for the co-op.