New Food Co-op Hosts Kick-Off Meeting at Sulzer Library

North Side residents have one more chance to become part of a new food co-op from the very beginning. 

The Chicago Cooperative—a community-owned grocery store with sights set on a possible Lincoln Square location—is hosting one more kick-off meeting. 

The meeting will be at Sulzer Regional Library, 4455 N. Lincoln Ave., at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. 

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. The focus in nearly every co-op is to build community around local, healthy food. 

Rogers Park resident Gregory Berlowitz is spearheading the movement because he wants to know where his food comes from, but doesn't want to pay a high mark-up for organic products. The former environmental lawyer has been researching other food co-ops and said it's time to make one on the North Side a reality. 

While a firm location is too early to predict, Berlowitz envisions a space south of Foster and north of Irving Park Road, between Ashland and Western avenues. That means the co-op could be located in or very near Lincoln Square and Ravenswood. 

“It’ll only happen with a community effort,” he said. “And almost everything will be up to the people that help me build it.”

At the first of two community meetings, residents echoed Berlowitz's desire for local products at lower prices. Other ideas included a childcare center and an on-site herb garden. 

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