SUSTAINABILITY
Retail Innovation
Gem City Market Shines in Dayton A COOPER ATIVE RE TAILER DEBUTS A UNIQUE CONCEPT. By Mike Troy o one quite knows how Dayton, Ohio, came to be known as “the gem city,” but a recently opened food retailing cooperative near the city’s downtown is lending credence to the name. Following a six-year process, Gem City Market opened in May to serve a neighborhood lacking convenient access to fresh, affordable food and other amenities commonly found in stores located in more affluent areas. Gem City Market offers fresh categories such as produce and case-ready meats, a full-service deli, a community room, and a teaching kitchen with six residential style cooktops and Top: At only 15,800 square feet, Gem City stoves. The store also features a health clinic with two exam rooms, and a Above: Market is a full-service grocer with small coffee shop operating in a leased space near the entrance. numerous amenities. An emphasis on fresh produce “It all kind of works together,” says Lela Klein, co-executive director of Co-op is a key differentiator for Gem City Market. Dayton, and a Gem City Market board member. “We knew we needed to be more than just a store, so we are trying to do a lot. We have a really strong focus on fresh produce, because there’s not another grocery store within 3 miles of us that has a produce department to speak of. So that is one of our differentiators.” Gem City Market managed to squeeze all of its features into a 15,800-square-foot store, with a sales floor of 8,200 square feet, at the intersection of Salem and Superior avenues, just across the Miami River from downtown Dayton. The location has special meaning for Klein, because it’s only about three blocks from where she grew up. “My role with Gem City Market has been in partnership development financing and the — Leah Bahan-Harris, Gem City Market community-organizing side of things,” explains Klein, a graduate of Harvard Law School with a background as a labor and employment attorney. “The store was six years in the making, and there were thousands of people involved. The collaboration with AWG [Associated Wholesale Grocers], which is also a cooperative, was really crucial.” AWG and a local architect collaborated on the store design and merchandising layout in a building owned by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, according to Klein. Additional advice was provided by Columinate, a Madison, Wis.-based national consulting cooperative focused on supporting mission-driven organizations. To keep occupancy costs low, Gem City Market obtained donated equipment and interest-free financing through tax credits. The store is owned by 4,300 people, most of whom made a donation of $100 or more.
“The store is a little small, but we have one of the best locations and serve an area of about 19,000 people. It may be small, but we have a lot of stuff here.”
By The Numbers
An outpouring of community support made Gem City Market a reality, but now the store needs to operate efficiently and generate financial returns to remain viable. The task of day-to-day operations falls to Leah Bahan-Harris,
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