Frustrated by the lack of a natural grocer, such as Whole Foods or Sprouts, in their neighborhood, a group of Stapleton residents has banded together to launch a food cooperative.
The Northeast Community Co-Op Market has drafted bylaws and is recruiting 1,000 founding members willing to contribute $200 each to fund the venture.
“All of our organizers lived in communities that had food co-ops,” said Thomas Spahr, one of the organizers. “We got together and thought this would be a good solution.”
The group has received applications and funds from 115 people in the first 11 days, Spahr said.
In places such as Minnesota, Wisconsin and northern California, member-owned food cooperatives offer an alternative to chain stores.
But only a handful of retail cooperatives have survived the test of time in Colorado, including the Mountain People’s Co-Op in Nederland and the Fort Collins Food Co-Op.
“It is a bit of a puzzle as to why we don’t have a food co-op that is flourishing in the metro Denver area,” said Bill Stevenson, director of cooperative development with the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Foundation, which is assisting the Stapleton group.
At the end of June, The Second Kitchen, a food co-op run by University of Colorado at Boulder students, closed its doors after a short 10 months, citing a lack of community support.
Spahr said his group is moving methodically. It has hired a project manager, is considering a formal feasibility study and is scouting for the right location.
“There is a lot of idealism involved with this, but we want to come at it from a sound business practice,” said Spahr.
Forest City Stapleton, the community’s developer, has repeatedly tried and failed over the years to draw a natural grocer to the area, spokesman Tom Gleason said. “We haven’t found a viable proposal.”
Back in 2002, King Soopers was the only grocer willing to risk setting up shop at 2801 Quebec St., and it negotiated rights of first refusal for a second store in Stapleton, Gleason said.
King Soopers is close to exercising those rights for a store near Havana Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the Eastbridge Town Center, Gleason said.
While its rights aren’t exclusive, its presence would effectively block a competing grocer from coming in.
The Northeast Community Co-Op is scouting for locations within Stapleton; south of 26th Avenue in the Westerly Creek Village neighborhood, possibly in or near the former Stanley Aviation building; and deeper into Aurora near the Fox Arts Center on East Colfax Avenue.
“If they can come up with the right concept, it would be a good business,” city of Aurora retail specialist Timothy Gonerka said.
The city has more than 157 food markets, not counting the big chain stores, Gonerka said. Most are in the 2,000- to 4,000-square-foot range.
Spahr said the co-op is looking at something closer to 9,000 square feet, with a heavier emphasis on locally sourced organic produce and bulk foods than existing natural grocers now provide.
A goal is to appeal both to Stapleton’s more affluent residents as well as lower-income households in the surrounding area.
“Right now it is about establishing ourselves and getting enough critical mass,” Spahr said. “I have full faith we won’t have issues with funding or with interested vendors.”
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aldosvaldi
