Gem City Market Shines in Dayton

A COOPERATIVE RETAILER 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 stoves. The store also features a health clinic with two exam rooms, and a small coffee shop operating in a leased space near the entrance.

“It all kind of works together,” says Lela Klein, co-executive director of Co-op 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 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.

Top: At only 15,800 square feet, Gem City Above: Market is a full-service grocer with numerous amenities. An emphasis on fresh produce is a key differentiator for Gem City Market.

“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.”

— Leah Bahan-Harris, Gem City Market

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,

who has the role of store manager. She oversees a staff of 30 employees, half of whom are full-time and receive an hourly wage of $14.75. Roughly 80% of the employees are local, and half live so close to the store that they can walk to work, according to Bahan-Harris. Gem City Market’s labor model is supplemented by volunteers who perform various duties around the store because they want to make a difference and see the store fulfill its vision of community impact, she adds. The store targets a profit margin rate of 1.8% to 3% by operating as a small-format full-service grocer catering to an underserved customer base.

“The store is a little small, but we have one of the best locations and serve an area of about 19,000 people,” Bahan-Harris says. “It may be small, but we have a lot of stuff here.”

Like Klein, Bahan-Harris spent much of her childhood near Gem City Market’s location: She grew up in the Five Oaks neighborhood of Dayton before moving to the Trotwood community northwest of the city, an area now also exploring the co-op model.

“There is a group of neighbors in the Trotwood community that is already coming together and talking about could they do the same thing we are doing, and we’ve also had calls from around the country,” says Klein. “A lot of people are watching to see how it works.”

Klein is also working with groups in Louisville, Ky.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Baltimore.

“The cooperative spirit is really strong,” notes Klein. “We would like to help support other food-related social enterprises in Dayton, and we would love to think about expansion, but it will really be up to our community.”

Top-of-the-Line Tech

Gem City Market may be a co-op, but that doesn’t mean the store is lacking top-of-the-line technology, thanks to the generous support of leading industry suppliers. For example, Bridgeton, Mo.-based Hussmann Corp., a Panasonic company, partnered with Emerson and The Chemours Co. to create an innovative and sustainable refrigeration solution.

“This effort went beyond the typical supplier-manufacturer-end customer transaction,” explains Andres Lacassie, Hussman’s VP of core and distributed cases. “We were able to bring together engineers, designers, community leaders and several others to outline the needs and design a truly innovative solution that will have a positive impact.”

That impact involves using equipment with all of the functionality that a modern grocer would expect from its refrigeration systems, with a lower overall carbon footprint. To do so, Hussmann assembled the overall refrigeration system, which is made of assembly components, 10 low-temperature booster systems from St. Louis-based Emerson, and a low global-warming-potential (GWP) refrigerant, Opteon XP10, from Wilmington, Del.-based Chemours. As part of the donation to Gem City Market, Hussmann also included its medium-temperature Protocol systems, refrigeration units and display cases with CoreLink micro-channel condensers and unit coolers.

“Any time you can work together with some of the top companies in the industry to solve needs on multiple fronts, the results can be amazing,” says Buzz Schaeffer, Hussman’s principal engineer. “We created an environmentally friendly refrigeration solution for a store that will serve an area that needs an outlet, with options that were not previously available.”

Gem City Market store manager Leah BahanHarris (pictured on page 36) oversees a staff of 30 employees, some of whom are shown above.

DESIGNED FOR SUSTAINABILITY:

Packaging That’s Better for the Planet

Today’s environmentally conscious shoppers want companies to commit to carrying products made

with more sustainable materials — and data shows they’ll support those that do: 78 percent of consumers are more likely to remember a company with a strong purpose, such as those that are reducing their environmental impact, and 66 percent consider a company’s purpose when making purchasing decisions1 .

What does that mean for grocery retailers?

“Sustainable packaging makes an impact on all stages of a product’s life-cycle. Grocery retailers can make an important choice to carry brands that use sustainable packaging. They can then promote that fact, and let their consumers know why those brands are more environmentally responsible than other products on the market today,” says Lisa Huett, Sustainability Coordinator of Alpha Packaging, a leader in sustainable packaging innovation and a sustainable supplier to the grocery industry.

A Look at Light-weighting

One of the best ways to create a more sustainable package is by using less plastic. Optimizing packaging by reducing weight is called light-weighting — and it can save 30 percent or more plastic from entering the waste stream. “Light-weighting involves redesigning the bottles or containers to reduce the weight without compromising quality,” Huett explains.

The Plus of Post-Consumer Resin

Post-consumer recycled resin (PCR) is the #1 resin consumers are asking about when it comes to product packaging. What does PCR really mean? Simply put, it is material made from recycled plastic that offers the same quality and stability of virgin plastic resin.

“Alpha is one of the only manufacturers that will make plastic bottles and jars from 100% recycled, PCR content, giving a second life to packages and keeping them out of landfills,” Huett says. “We only buy post-consumer resins that follow FDA-approved processes for recovery and reprocessing, so that packaging is safe for food, pharmaceuticals, beverages and supplements.”

Alpha Packaging more than doubled the amount of PCR packaging produced in 2020, and current projections show PCR usage will only continue to increase in the future, Huett adds.

Compostable, Bioresins, Ocean Bound and More…

Many packages make compostable claims, but caution is needed when evaluating them: Some perform very well, some are not what they’re cracked up to be, and most aren’t recyclable.

“If your end-consumer doesn’t recycle your package the way you intended, it’s not providing any value. For example, many people don’t have access to industrial composting, so compostable packages often end up in a landfill,” Huett says. “Grocers can help educate consumers about what different resins really are — and what they are not.”

Instead of compostable, consider a recyclable bioresin. Alpha Packaging relies on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bioresin, which uses renewable plant sources to replace the monoethylene glycol (MEG) component of PET, and HDPE bioresin that’s made entirely from sugarcane. “Both of these resins are chemically identical to conventional HDPE & PET, providing the same quality and performance. Best of all, they can be recycled at end of life. This is a critical part of claiming a package is sustainable,” Huett explains. “The more we can reuse materials and keep them in the economy longer the better for the environment.”

Alpha also recently launched an HDPE ocean-bound PCR jar and a PET ocean-bound PCR bottle made from post-consumer plastics collected from beaches, waterways and coastal areas.

“We have partnerships with certified ocean-bound PCR processors who guarantee chain of custody of ocean-diverted resin, and we’re the first manufacturer in the US to launch a PET Ocean Cycle Certified PCR bottle into the nutritional space,” Lisa adds.

As more consumers embrace sustainability, they’ll seek out retailers who carry products that are better for the planet. What grocers carry on their store shelves matters a great deal. “It’s a win for everyone,” Huett says. “Alpha Packaging, CPG companies and grocery retailers working together can build loyalty with environmentally conscious consumers, highlight their companies’ commitment to sustainability, help preserve the environment, and boost sales in the process.”