Cooperation

The food co-op will be an extension of the Bisbee Food Co-Op. It will occupy 7500 sq ft of space in the old kmart/basha's building on the west end of town, south side of fry blvd. The owner is the former owner of Sun N Spokes bike shop. His vision includes the co-op, h&r block, WIU, and a world class gym, health food restaurant and coffee shop and used book store. New facade on building all the way down across AutoZone and 99 cent store. Possibilty of eco friendly construction. Also a new pizza hut (one of only 5 in the nation) with new building design will occupy the space in the parking lot. Look for landscaping to improve the look of downtown. The goal is to energize SV downtown to become a place that is vibrant and one which people will want to come to rather than the rather drab and cookie cutter box store look our town has now.

Name options include "Sierra Vista Food Co-Op" and "Bisbee Food Co-Op 2".

Volunteers are being sought for assisting with getting this operation in gear to open by October 1st this year.

This co-op is a not for profit and does not have member equity option, so to me it's not as much of a cooperative as it could be. Membership will be for both stores: $24 a year. But a say-so in what is stocked and how the store is laid out and run and opportunity to be on board of directors if elected, and so forth.

So, it will be twice the sq ft size of the current store in bisbee with plenty of parking, a nice facade, and good neighboring stores and great location as only food store on west side of town. Also an expanded produce and meat sections.

Co-ops are uniting into a national "chain" now to compete for buying power of successful health food chains like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and Wild Oats Markets. These outfits have kept co-op prices high, so the consolidation at national level is being done to bring prices back to more competitive level. Solo co-ops were not doing well in such competition.

There will be one more meeting before the opening. I put my address and phone number down as a potential volunteer.