Shop at the Co-op

When you think of the word “cooperate,” you may think about mutual benefits and a common goal. Likewise, these phrases embody a consumer cooperative. A cooperative is a community-owned organization that enables its members to contribute to business decisions, access products and services, and share profits and benefits.

The Syracuse Cooperative Market is a full-service grocery store working to promote local businesses and make local food products more available to the community. Every time people purchase items at the Coop, money is invested back into the community in the form of wages and local vendor and service utilization, as opposed to when people buy from big corporations.

Describing the Syracuse Cooperative Market’s mission, general manager Jeremy DeChario says, “[The Syracuse Cooperative Market] wants to support small-scale agriculture, rather than corporate large-scale crops.” The Cooperative is able to sustain the local economy and benefit the Syracuse community’s well-being by working with local farmers and distributors.

Syracuse’s farms are typically small and unable to produce enough goods to meet the high demand from corporate grocery chains, like Wegmans or Tops. Instead, they maintain their business by selling products at farm stands, farmers markets, and restaurants. Once they are able to produce on a larger scale, they might reach out to the Syracuse Cooperative Market to begin selling their products there.

For example, the Syracuse Cooperative Market was local Recess Coffee’s first wholesale account, and, today, its products are stocked and sold at Wegmans daily. Because the Cooperative is a small organization, it is able to take time to communicate directly with local businesses and help them succeed.

The Syracuse Cooperative Market further supports local farms by encouraging seasonality and changing its produce offerings to reflect what is being actively grown each season.

For example, in the spring, the Syracuse Cooperative Market supplies fiddlehead ferns and ramps, which are wild foliage grown in upstate New York available for only about two weeks every year.

As of right now, approximately 40 percent of Syracuse Co-op’s products are local, while the remaining 60 percent (primarily packaged goods) come from national brands. Nonetheless, the Syracuse Cooperative Market’s goal is always to maximize the percentage of local goods offered to support local businesses and sustain the local economy.

Referencing other aspirations, DeChario says, “We have pride in what we do, and we work really hard to provide the best shopping experience that we can.” The Syracuse Cooperative Market aims to enhance customer experience and improve its reach across Syracuse by eventually relocating the store to a larger, more prominent location in its current neighborhood, as well as opening more stores in other Syracuse neighborhoods, so everybody in the city has the ability to walk to a cooperative from their home and purchase local products.

With an effort to be price sensitive, the Syracuse Cooperative works to be inclusive for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. The Syracuse Cooperative Market offers a basics line, comprised of more affordable products, such as inexpensive cereals and cans of beans, that are within everyone’s reach. Additionally, the Syracuse Cooperative Market accepts EBTs and allows customers to use SNAP benefits and food stamps.

“We are open to everyone, and, as we grow and expand, being able to reach out to a broader community of people, other than just specifically organic shoppers, by diversifying our product mix to diversify our customer base, is very important,” says DeChario about the Syracuse Cooperative Market.

While most of the Syracuse Cooperative Market’s customers are local, 20 to 30 percent of business comes from Syracuse University and ESF students and faculty. DeChario explains how, “these small, every day, boring don’t-even-think-about-them decisions can have huge impacts. It’s just like buying a brand of milk or buying eggs – you’re going to buy eggs anyways – just buy local eggs. Make an effort, make a decision, to support the local economy and local businesses.”

BY VALEXA DEVITO

PHOTO BY AARON KASSMAN