As part of the Down To Earth expansion we will occasionally feature some of our longer articles outside of this familiar DTE Blog space, on the DTE News page. In doing so, we hope to widen our outreach, heighten awareness on local issues and help everyone get more comfortable with all the features and resources of the Down To Earth community. The DTE News page will feature articles written by us, as well as other writers in Spokane and the Inland Northwest. The following is our most recent feature about Jennifer Hall and the Main Market Co-op. The feature can be read below, and also found HERE along with other news articles, features and profiles. Main Market Co-Op organizers inviting support for downtown venture Maybe some things really are as simple as they seem. Take the Main Market Co-op slated to open in downtown Spokane sometime around fall 2009. Based on a basic doctrine that everyone deserves good and healthy food, the Main Market Co-op will, as part of their mission statement says, “nourish the community … and contribute to a healthier and more resilient Inland Northwest.” By bringing local, organic and sustainable food to the surrounding area and by supporting the region’s sustainable farmers, ranchers and fisherman, Main Market looks to fill a much needed grocery void in the downtown core, all while contributing to ever growing community-building scene and attitude currently flourishing on west Main Street. If that were it, the mutually beneficial local principles and the health, environment and community advantages, then yes, the Main Market Co-op is a fairly simple and favorable endeavor. But, “build it and they will come,” is not going to work, not under the co-op business model, which is more like, “provide the tools and they must build.” “It’s about growing and sustaining healthy community relationships,” said Jennifer Hall, Main Market Co-op organizer and community food builder. “This is one way to build community, not just a commodity.” Under the cooperative umbrella, Main Market exists and sustains primarily on the merits of members, more like owners who are united voluntarily through their donations, or member dues, in a model where they jointly own and democratically control the business. “It’s very grassroots,” explained Hall. “Your (members) equity is your voice, your vote.” Originally planned to be housed on the south side of Main Street next to Isabella’s, Main Market Co-op is moving before the first ding of the cash register sounds. Fortunately for them, the end destination is just across the street in the soon-to-be-vacated Goodyear tire shop on the very visible corner of Browne and Main. In an article in The Spokesman-Review in mid- November, Hall said they made the switch after the tire shop owners renegotiated their lease to leave earlier. And being that local attorney, philanthropist, and community builder Jim Sheehan, who Hall says Spokane is “lucky to have as a catalyst for change” owned both the “original” market location and the Goodyear building, the decision was easy. “It was just ludicrous not to take advantage of that option,” Hall said. When completed in fall of 2009 (the remodel is scheduled to begin in early 2009), the Main Market Co-op will consist of 9,500 square feet of grocery and deli space that will actively promote local and sustainable foods. The co-op also plans to include a dining area with a long “community table,” where members and non-members will be encouraged to meet and grow friendships, community and so on, plus a commercial kitchen, a place to find and order custom meat from local ranchers, and rentable freezer lockers for those who might live downtown but lack sufficient freezer storage space. It will also include offices. But from now until local groceries and goods are disappearing from the shelves, Hall needs to sell the Market. She’s quick to remind that the success of the Main Market Co-op will rest solely on the members. “It’s not my project,” she said. “I’m paid to make it successful. The members are the ones making it real for people.” Hall is optimistic about the co-op’s potential. And confidently points out that consumer food co-ops traditionally boast a low failure rate as, “the people (members) are very dedicated to hold it up as they worked hard for it.” Memberships for the co-op started selling online after a membership drive launched Sept. 13. A general membership costs $180 and a low-income membership runs $75, and those are also capable of being paid via a 3-year payment plan, which $15 is added as a non-refundable administrative fee. For an additional $100 you can become a charter member and your donation will be recognized on a permanent display. “So far, for the most part, people are paying in full and of the about 60 or so memberships about half of them are adding the $100 charter donation,” Hall said. Member’s benefits include members-only sales; newsletters; free and discounted classes and events; freezer locker and case discounts; a year-end patronage refund when the store is profitable, a vote for leadership; and a part in democratic and fiscally responsible decision making. It’s important to note that you won’t have to be a member to shop there. But as Hall energetically affirms, “just imagine the feeling you will have as you shop knowing you helped make it a reality.” Until that reality Hall works daily on what she calls the, “curiosity phase.” “This is really what it’s all about, community relationships” she said. “Being able to educate people, to share the mission and to translate that into action.” So she makes herself available once a month or so to talk to interested people, to interact and create dialogue about the co-op. If a group, whether a community group, an organization or a business is interested, Hall will present the mission of the co-op as well as answer questions or clear up any misconceptions. All she asks is for an interested group of 30 or more, and “not ones that are the tomato-throwing kind.” Often lost in the numbers, the need for outreach and education and the details, is the fundamental idea that the Main Market Co-op is responsible for – food. And not just food, but good, healthy and sustainable food. “The thing about food is, it’s such a basic need yet it’s still such a special thing,” Hall said. How the co-op will eventually provide the food is what will make it special for this region. The idea of supporting healthy relationships with local producers will set the tone for a better cultural understanding for Spokane. “The co-op, more than anything,” Hall explained, “will strengthen the food supply of the region.” And at the end of the day, all this is about is food; about respect for the producing and the consuming of food and about valuing the environment - and that’s pretty simple.

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