Wild Root Market Co-Op Coming to Racine's North Side

RACINE, WI — Racine's north side is getting a boost after the Wild Root Market Co-op announced this week that they have selected a site for their long-awaited coop.

The site - 500 Walton Ave. in on the northwest corner of Walton Ave. and Wisconisn Ave. just west of the Racine Zoo and just north of Goold St. and Main St.

"We are confident this site provides the attributes required for a successful store. It is right-sized, centrally located, and offers ample parking both at the site and across Walton in the lot at 2214 Wisconsin," the co-op announced this week.

The co-op will be housed in a 12,116 square foot building that house up to 8,500 square feet of retail space. The building was built in 1961 and used to house a neighborhood doctors' office. 40 employees are expected to work there.

The co-op envisions construction will take 9-12 months once all site contingencies are removed. Preparations are broken down into three stages, according to the co-op:

Phase 1: Rezone & Grow Ownership

Wild Root Market is in the process of getting city approval to operate their co-op at the Walton Ave. location. In the process, Wild Root is working to build their membership from 828 owners to 1,500 owners by the time they open for the first time. They have scheduled community conversation meetings at the following times:

• Tuesday, April 11, 6pm: Wheaton Franciscan Spring Street Campus, Auditorium
• Wednesday, April 12, 10am: Downtown Johnson Building, Learning & Development Center
• Thursday, April 13, 6pm: Living Light Community Center, 740 College Ave., Racine
• Saturday, April 15, 11am: Racine Public Library, Lee Room

Phase 2: Capitalization

Raising the $4 million needed to finance the project, including site renovation is already underway. Wild root is reaching out to national cooperative lenders, local lenders and grant opportunities are being pursued, according to a release published this week by the co-op.

Phase 3: Hire a General Manager & Begin Construction

Wild Root stated they have several co-op owners who are human resource professionals currently volunteering on the coop's general manager search committee. The general manager will be in charge of all operation aspects.

image via wild root co-op