New Food Co-op to Plant Ideas at First Meeting

Learn more about a community-owned grocery store coming to the North Side at a public meeting Wednesday. The Chicago Cooperative is hosting a forum for those interested in creating a food co-op. 

A food co-op is basically a large grocery store owned by a collective group of residents. Anyone can shop at the co-op, but members will receive special discounts. Its members are technically owners who buy in with a fee. The focus in nearly every co-op is to build community around local, healthy food. 

Rogers Park resident Gregory Berlowitz is spearheading the movement because he wants to know where his food comes from, but doesn't want to pay a high mark-up for organic products. 

While a firm location is too early to predict, Berlowitz envisions a space south of Foster and north of Irving Park Road, between Ashland and Western avenues. That means the co-op could be located in or very near Lincoln Square and Ravenswood. 

“It’ll only happen with a community effort,” he said. “And almost everything will be up to the people that help me build it.”

The meeting is at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Chase Park Auditorium, 4701 N. Ashland Ave. Reservations can be made online here.

A second meeting is planned for March 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Sulzer Regional Library, 4455 N Lincoln Ave.

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