The Kootenay Co-Op: A Community Haven

Success story time! I recently traveled to Nelson, BC – a place revered by environmentalists the world over (apparently – I’m new to Canada and still learning the ropes) and while there, we frequented a non-chain grocery store called The Kootenay Co-op, which is an independent cooperative grocery store in the downtown region. The experience was…oh, gosh, where do I even begin? Refreshing, calming, and nostalgic. Why? Time for a trip back through the life of 7 In the Ocean…

Hop into the Wayback Machine…

Several years ago now, I lived in Burlington, VT. Home to UVM, Lake Champlain, Church Street, it was also the residence of two kick-ass local grocery stores: City Market and Healthy Living. Both were a plastic-free-enthusiast’s dream: drool-worthy bulk sections, focus on all-things-local, emphasis on BYOC, organic, vegan-friendly, the list goes on.

Less than several years ago (let’s call this the recent past), I lived in midcoast Maine, specifically the “Twin Villages” of Newcastle and Damariscotta. Home to world-renowned Pumpkin Fest, the shuck-off at the Pemaquid Oyster Festival, UMaine’s Darling Marine Center (and my alma mater!), it was also the lucky landing pad for Rising Tide, another amazing, local grocery store. When I lived here, I was a 5 minute bike ride from this place. Dream! Once again, the store was a haven for all things local, sustainable, and delicious. I felt totally comfortable walking in with a bag of empty jars, the cashiers knew me by name, and they hosted local art and wine gatherings on Fridays. Their hot bar was also the cat’s meowwwwww.

Don’t get me wrong: I never took these stores for granted – I loved them and made them my priority shopping destinations. As a plant-based eater and plastic-free lover, frequenting stores like this felt easy! I could do it all, hassle free, and come out feeling like I won the lottery, every single time. Now, I live in a big city in the Okanagan region of BC and it hadn’t really occurred to me until this trip to Nelson that perhaps there was something missing, something I haven’t been able to quite put my finger on until now. Then, I walked into the Kootenay Co-op last month and it hit me: cooperatives! THIS IS WHAT’S MISSING.

Walking into The Kootenay Co-op immediately sent me back in time – all at once I was standing in line at the deli of City Market, drooling over vegan lox bagels; marveling at how many sustainable options lay before me at Healthy Living; and basking in the small-town-yet-big-energy vibe enveloping me at Rising Tide. I remembered how awesome it was to bike to these places with my basket and backpack loaded down with whole foods, bulk goods in my own jars that were filled with ease, and grinning like a goon because I had just bought all my groceries from a local supplier, saved a ton of money, and was biking the whole dang thing home. This was the missing piece! Community coming together to support local food in a simple, sustainable way.

Why is this not everywhere?

The Kootenay Coop is not a new thing – it’s been around in Nelson since the 70’s, but got an upgrade recently when it moved to a beautiful, brand new mixed-used building (that it built!) down the road from its old location on Baker Street. It’s a co-operative in the truest sense of the word, and yet…it is only one of a very few that exist in Canada. Perhaps this is also where my pining-away-feelings were coming from as I scooped fresh-made food from their hot bar and scanned the cold-pressed juices in the coolers…I realized that I had fallen prey to the assumption monster. I assumed (wrongly so it seems) that these co-ops must exist everywhere! They’re amazing, how could there not be one in every town?? (By the way, Stoke Juice, your bottles make me weak in the knees!) 

It turns out, grocery cooperatives don’t really exist here in Canada, at least not in BC (although there is progress being made here and here – more on these later!). Why, though?! They exist as this amazing business model that is at once supportive of progress but bypasses the traditional big-box, corporate grocery store chaos. Members pay into the business and receive various incentives for doing so: discounts on products, dividends, decision-making power, the list goes on. Foreigners like us out-of-towners are welcome to shop there as well and daydream about one of these popping up in the Okanagan one day. The emphasis on local is literally awe-inspiring with regional products ranging from fresh produce and prepared foods to meats and cheeses, and kombucha on tap. Kombucha on tap, people! I didn’t get a chance to check out their bulk section but I’m betting it was swoon-worthy, judging by the ample signage I saw lit-er-al-ly everywhere emphasizing BYOC/BYOB.

What is it about this place?

It wasn’t just the products, though. There’s something else about a place like this, the cooperative model, and it’s hard to put a finger on it. OK, I lied: it’s super easy. 😀 Everybody is friendly – fellow shoppers and employees alike. Perhaps that comes from the fact that everybody there (if you’re local) is a member – members are shoppers, shoppers are members. They all bought into this and they’re all stoked about it. Staff are paid a fair wage. The calendar of events hosted at the Co-op is astounding (there is a book club!). The branding is seamless, consistent – maybe these all seem like little things, but it’s something I notice about places like this. With consistent branding and open, welcoming energy comes focus, clear vision and transparency. It’s clear to me that the Kootenay Co-op has all of this and more.

“We serve our members and community and strengthen our local food system by providing the highest quality, local, sustainable, and organic products at reasonable prices, in a welcoming environment, with exemplary customer service.”

Kootenay Co-op Mission Statement

Some might say this kind of store is elitist, that only people with money can go there – and indeed, if you look around, some of the prices are a little bit gulp-inducing. Rotisserie chickens that normally cost $8 at Superstore are just about double the price here. But what if these prices are just reflecting the true cost of what that cooked chicken ought to cost? The struggle, I think, is that we’ve become so used to cheap food that seeing the real costs makes us cringe. In any event, this is not my point. My point is that in my brief time at the Kootenay Coop, I saw every walk of life tread the aisles of the store: families, older people, teenagers, and on and on. It is a place for everyone.

But wait…there’s MORE.

After discovering this place, reliving my old New England haunts, and generally getting giddy about the idea of food cooperatives, I started reading up on the Co-op. Buzz of a new General Manager caught my eye. Being an avid user of Google, I quickly looked up Ari Derfel and found a TEDx talk he gave in 2011 about Slow Money. Check it out:

“Business 3.0 is something way, way, way more incredible. It’s the full coming together, it’s capitalism, democracy, realizing the full potential; it’s recognizing that business is a tool to be used to create good…it’s business, recognizing that at its core, business is activism. It is the most powerful tool we have to shape the world.”

Ari Derfel
GM, Kooteny Co-op

During his talk, Ari compelled the audience to look in the metaphorical mirror and ask themselves four questions:

• What world do I want to live in?
• What can I contribute?
• How committed am I?
• How far am I willing to go?

To me, it feels like the Kootenay Co-op is a perfect reflection to this inquiry and probably why Ari was elected as General Manager to the Co-op in July of this year. His vision aligns with the concept of cooperative grocery stores, which are a shining example of what Slow Money is all about and his questions ask us to dig deep in our quest for a better planet.

Challenge accepted, here goes:

Really though, what kind of world do I want to live in?

→ A world where cooperatives are the norm and big box grocery stores go the way of the woolly mammoth, more or less (no offence, woolly).

How can I actually contribute? What are the skills that I have to offer?

→ I can share these stories of success! I can bolster local efforts. I can tell all my friends, far and wide, and I can dream, help create, make signs, volunteer, and provide all the fresh juice for all the people. What do you have to offer?

But it’s so hard…am I really that committed? Wouldn’t it just be easier to go live in the woods?

→ Certainly…but what is life without a little struggle? Isn’t this what we’re here for? To make our space a nice place to be? For me, having a co-op like the Kootenay Co-op nearby would make my space nice. I like nice spaces. Don’t you? 😉

OK so…I’m in. But how far in?

→ Both feet, off the diving board. All in! Seeking current co-ops, fledgling co-ops, and all the people that fall into those categories: I want to learn how this is done, help boost those already doing this great work, and make it happen (or help keep it going!) right here, in the Okanagan.

All this inspiration and excitement came from one experience at one grocery store. Imagine if everyone had this experience, every day, in every community. Can you imagine how much more connected, excited, and revved up we’d be about everything, all the time? Amazing things would happen! Not that they aren’t already but you get my point: concentrate the goodness and make this the norm! Thank you, Kootenay Co-op for the jolt of energetic inspiration (and belly full of tasty food) I left your store with! Looking forward to carrying that with me into my work here in Kelowna, and beyond.