wow, i was going to leave a scathing comment for this author but I see most people have already done the job. I'll just say this - I am not yet a member of the coop, but I am about to join and it has nothing to do with ideology. its simple economics - affordable, healthy food for my bod, with the added benefits of being environmentally friendlier and economically supportive of local agribusiness.

and as for your comments re: worker's strife? please. carlo trino's response says it best - your logic is liberal elite and just plain offensive. and don't suggest whole foods or union market as comparable alternatives - they are overpriced and just as self-righteous as the rest. you don't have to be nearly as "well off", as you put it, to shop at the coop as you do to shop at either of those.

To all of those who have defended the Park Slope Food Coop because you save money by purchasing you food there.

Of course.

Then again, you also save money by buying electronics made in China by workers making 30 cents a day.

Somehow walking out of PC Richard with your Chinese-made stereo doesn't provide the purchaser with the same sense of "doing the right thing."

In the end, the only difference is that the workers in China--although horribly exploited--receive the work.

The savings realized at the Park Slope Food Coop, on the other hand, come on the shoulders of a population that could really use the work, people who are also a part of our community.

Key Food may not be a great supermarket but at least it employs a union workforce, which is paid a living wage, with full benefits.

The coop is not for everyone. The author's "beef" with the Coop is a normal symptom experienced by a person who is not part of the Coop's "target market".

I just moved to Brooklyn in December of 05. I, not knowing what the co-op was, walked in and took my time picking out my meats and other food. After about 30 minutes of shopping took my stuff to the counter where they asked for my membership card. I asked what they were talking about and the gentlemen responded, "how did you get in here"?? I thought I was on candid camera. I explained what happened and we both had a good laugh over it. That never happens at C Town!!! LOL

F%#k the Cause if you're not into it! The Co-Op's got great food at great prices and all you have to do is work a few hours every month. Ignore the Party members if they bother you; same with the yuppies, the grad students, or any other group of people that you're misanthropic heart finds repugnant. But your 'blame the coop for the lost cashier jobs' argument rings hollow without also arguing for a standard of living increase in the federal minimum wage. You don't give two craps about those workers and you know it.

My time is worth more to me than some minor discount on groceries. Frankly if a Trader Joes opens up somewhere nearby, the co-op will really discover who shares their "values" and who was in it for the discount on organic food.

After actually reading this entry in its entirety on the blog, you'll realize that she's basically pissed because the coop didn't let her in to look around one day. Hence the shaky attempt at making the place out to be "unjust" because it doesn't provide jobs for "certain people".

As other people have already pointed out, the coop's organization is different - people who shop there also work (and incidentally there ARE paid jobs at the coop, and I don't know where she gets off asserting that those jobs aren't going to "those who really neeed them").

At the coop, it makes the food cheaper for everyone if the members also work. The idea that not having real jobs at the coop perpetuates injustice is absurd- by that token, why don't the people who run the delis, bodegas and restaurants of her precious "truly urban experience" create more jobs in the community and hire out instead of having their family members work the counter? By refusing to create jobs, I guess they're unjust too.

I agree the work requirements at the Park Slope Food Coop are bordering on a logistical nightmare. But, I am poor, I shop at the Coop and know many folks like me, who want organic food for their families at affordable prices. I find that working where I shop makes me more conscious of how food should be treated and more aware of the work of other folks in the food industry and at the coop, so that I do not act carelessly when I shop. I wished there were more institutions like this one, where everyone is invested in what they buy on a deeper level.

Frankly, I'd be brain-dead to NOT be a member of the PSFC. Not an adherent to the idealism in food coops? Fine. Let's talk MONEY. I save, conservatively, over $2,000 a year on my expenses thanks to the lower prices. Work shifts are what provides those savings so consider it to be PAID WORK. What a concept. If I divide my annual savings by the 33 annual hours of required work then I earn $167 per work shift! Who, reading this, makes that kind of cash?? Simon's characterization of the PSFC as a Communist strong-hold adds an amusement tone to his writing but is pure hokum. The typical experience most members have there is positive and most people there are just average, decent people. No Gestapo...really.

I used to live in Ithaca and I loved to shop at the co-op there although I couldn't afford the dues or the time to work as a student. Yet the GreenStar provided a place to buy bulk food and organic food at reasonable prices(even if not at the member discount). Since I've moved to New York, it seems like all the co-ops are members only and there are no shops where someone who likes to shop at these types of markets once every month or two. I find this really strange because I have easier times finding markets like the one in Ithaca in the suburbs these days than in the city.

The work requirement isn't an outmoded holdover; it's exactly what has made the coop flourish for all these years. The coop has been bursting at its seams with new members forever now. Every time the coop physically expands the store, new members rush in until the place is again crowded. So, obviously quite a lot of people (over 13,000 now) think it's worth putting in 2 hours and 45 minutes every 4 weeks in return for being part of a truly local, member-run food cooperative, with extremely low prices and high quality organic and non-organic food and non-food.

The coop used to close at 5pm on Sundays. Once the latest renovation was completed, making room for many new members, those new members enabled the coop to expand Sunday hours to 7:30pm. More people joined, so then the coop expanded morning hours and Saturday hours. More people joined, so then the coop expanded the membership office hours. More people joined, so the coop expanded the childcare hours. More people joined, so the coop created new roles, like the people who walk your cart back from wherever you live or parked nearby. More people joined, so a maintenance committee was created to keep the larger store well cleaned. More cashiers were added to try to reduce the wait to leave the coop. Etc.

Reducing the work requirement would reduce the services to members. The work requirement is pretty small, and apparently 13,000 people have been able to find work there while working 9-5 jobs. Reducing the work requirement to, say, once every 5 weeks as someone suggested above, wouldn't make things much easier (does working 2 1/2 hours once every 5 weeks really feel any different from every 4 weeks), but would reduce the available labor to the coop by 85,800 hours/year. Where would those hours come from? Who would stock the shelves all day and all night? Who would run the checkout lanes? Who would receive the high volumes of produce every morning? We'd either lose essential services, or we'd have to hire a lot more paid staff to cover the gap - which would result in higher prices - and we'd be failing our mission.

To the person who said he only sees "well-off looking people" at the coop: As someone who works as a cashier, I sure process a lot of food stamp transactions. I work with people as young as 18 and well into their 70's. I work with people of an extremely wide range of ethnic, religious, political, and philosophical bents, with varying physical and mental characteristics.

To the person who mentioned not liking the people s/he encountered at the orientation session: Like almost everything at the coop, that's just run by a large group of members who choose that job. Each orientation day throughout the month, a different member conducts the session. So, there are going to be wide variations depending on when you go...just like with everything at the coop. One day you get someone in a crabby mood checking you in at the entrance, and another day you meet your soulmate at the checkout line. What else would you expect with an open membership of 13,000 members?

Everyone's different at the coop. There is no prevailing attitude. It changes completely every 2 1/2 hours throughout the month. It's what the members make of it.

Is the PSFC cheaper than buying produce in Chinatown?

There is a sizable Hispanic community in Park Slope. Most of them are low-income. Do many of them shop at the PSFC? When I walk by, I tend to see people who are white and generally well-off looking. If the PSFC is cheaper, how come these lower-income people are not joining in droves? Or are they? Personally, I don't give a damn about organic apples, if I'm not saving money. I want cheap food.

One of the things I've found instructive working at the coop is meeting people outside of my yuppie elitist circle. A lot of the coop's members are people for whom the 40% discount makes a huge impact on their bottom line. Some of them use food stamps. Very few of them have the option of deciding that it's morally preferable to shop at Whole Foods in order to subsidize poor people.

I am fortunate to be the general manager of a food co-op in western Massachusetts, and read your comments about Park Slope with interest. Personally, I see nothing wrong with your opinion, particularly when we really think of the unique purpose and operation of a co-op. Unlike traditional grocery stores, co-ops are built around the concept of providing particular services and products based on member input and needs. Each co-op is unique unto itself. Viva la difference.

The intent of any co-op is not to set itself apart as a private club, as such. Granted, Park Slope is unique in that it is one of the only remaining co-ops that insists on allowing only members to shop there. However, it is my understanding that one of the primary goals at this co-op is to provide healthy food at the lowest prices possible. At my co-op, the major operating expense aside from the purchase of food is personnel. Our mission is not to neccesarily provide the cheapest food, but to act as a transformative force in our community. Park Slope using member labor to keep prices down does not subvert their mission. I also contend that your suggestion that this method contributes to employment woes in your area is far too simplistic. It could be argued that the lower price of healthy food provided contributes to lower health care costs, and provides access to these foods for lower income families.

You've made it clear that the Park Slope method does not work for you. That's fine. I applaud the co-op method and movement. In the reality of todays market, when 4 or 5 companies control almost 80% of our food supply, and where multi national corporations and the Wal Mart syndrome is on the rise, I will choose to support local homegrown businesses as much as possible.

If Park Slope is not your cup of fair trade tea, so be it. However, I encourage you to seek out other co-ops that may be more in tune with your outlook. After all, can you think of any other business that not only is concerned with building community, but is run by its community?

I've been living in the slope for over 10 years and have not joined the co-op because I can't fit 3 hours a month into my schedule.

I care about organic produce and go elsewhere for it. I've spoken to many times to people "recruiting" members and they seem to care more about the egalitarian nature of the organization than they do about expanding the consumption of organic foods.

I'm into the organic produce and will go to Whole Foods even though I would prefer to go to the food co-op.

For the record, this coop *does* have paid staff -- to wrangle all that member labor and keep the inventory interesting and changing over 60 times a year. Everything is fresh because it has been in the store less than a week!

It's also one of the cleanest grocery stores in NYC.

And the paid staff - 50 or so of them - all have health insurance and vacation pay and a pension plan.

The place is a marvel -- people come together based on their shared interest in good cheap food, and that includes all political stripes.

whole foods won't hurt the coop because it's hideously expensive. as for the author of this piece, sounds like someone too lazy to do a workshift trying to justify her lazienss on some grand scale. what.ever.

there are actually something like 12,000 members at the coop now, not 5G.

whole foods, union market, korean vegetable bodegas... none have shown any signs of impacting co-op membership. many of us would actually be grateful if it were the other way around - it would be less crowded if fewer people would join!

if the type of person who doesn't care about locally-produced food, doesn't care about environmental politics, doesn't care about organic versus conventional and GMO, doesn't care about community, etc, leaves their tenuous connection to the co-op behind to shop at whole foods - it's not really a big deal.

as for the article - send this woman back to Economics 101, she clearly didn't pay attention.

I'm a member of the Park Slope Co-op and no one has ever asked me my politics, my feelings about the environment, my views on gay marriage, or any other question that would peg me as liberal or conservative. In fact, my discussions with people usually have to do with what you can do with some obscure vegetable or if the ready-to-eat coconut curry is any good.







Yes, as noted by many the Co-op has a ton of rules and, like everywhere, there are people who can be annoying who shop and work there (but there are also very friendly people who shop and work there). But mostly I find it a fantastic, affordable option and I'm very happy to have it in the neighborhood. My thanks to those who founded the Co-op in the 70s. There should be more community-minded efforts that are so successful.