🥬🏡 What do you do when the grocery system isn’t working for your community? In Bear River, Nova Scotia, residents decided to build their own.
The rural community of about 1,000 people was dealing with high grocery prices, aging produce and long drives to the nearest major supermarkets. With no public transportation, even a 15 or 25-minute drive can become a serious barrier for people without a vehicle.
So residents organized.
After community meetings, a business plan, grant applications, connections with local suppliers and plenty of volunteer work, Fiddlehead Market Co-op opened in July. It already has 130 members.
Anyone can shop there. Residents can become members by purchasing a $100 share or volunteering, giving them a vote in how the store operates and what happens to surplus profits.
The co-op stocks produce, meat, dairy, pantry staples and household supplies, sourcing locally wherever possible. One shopper told CBC News she recently bought a head of lettuce for $1.75. Food that can't be sold isn't simply tossed out either. Some goes to farmers for animal feed, imperfect ingredients become prepared meals, and other items go to a community kitchen or cupboard.
Perhaps the most interesting part is that organizers worked with existing local businesses to fill gaps rather than compete with them.
As board chair Drew Tozer told CBC, after years spent trying to fight the grocery system, communities can also ask a different question: what if we create our own?
CBC Nova Scotia’s local reporting gives us a look at what that answer can actually look like in one small community. 🌱❤️
Could a community-owned grocery co-op work where you live?