Progressive Grocer - April 2009 - (Page 26)

Store of the Month Weaver Street Market, Carrboro, N.C. Close to Home The Weaver Street Co-op succeeds by making the needs of its owners — the surrounding community — paramount. By James Mellgren T 26 hroughout history, the marketplace has been thought of as the heart of the community. The need for food, especially fresh foods before refrigeration, made markets the logical sites for meeting friends, catching up on news, conducting trade or even fomenting revolution. Today, the choices for where to buy food are so vast — specialty shops, farmers’ markets, supermarkets, big-box stores, the Internet, catalogs, convenience stores, etc. — that even in small communities there is rarely a central market that acts as the soul of a community anymore. Many strive for it but few manage to achieve it. The people of Carrboro, N.C., and its environs are lucky enough to have such a store in the Weaver Street Market, a store that is not only the heart of the community but one that is actually owned by the community as well. A Community-Owned Business Weaver Street Market opened in June 1988 as a community-owned or cooperative grocery store. The original investments came via a loan from the Self-Help Ventures Fund, a Community Development Block Grant from the town of Carrboro, as well as individual investors from the community who believed in the idea of a communityowned business. The store proved to be an instant hit and quickly transcended its role as a purveyor of fine food to become what the town had hoped for, a central market that truly reflects the soul of the community. It has done this in part by providing a lovely place to shop for top-quality foods, but also through the countless community events it either hosts or cosponsors that have resulted in thousands of dollars donated each year to local schools and charities. Weaver Street • Progressive Grocer • April 2009 A H E A D O F W H AT ’ S N E X T www.progressivegrocer.com http://www.progressivegrocer.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Progressive Grocer - April 2009

Progressive Grocer - April 2009
Contents
Nielsen's Shelf Stoppers/Spotlight: Salty Snacks/Variety Snack Packs
Market Snapshot: Cleveland, Ohio
Independents Report: How Jax Markets' MacAloney Triumphed Over Adversity
Lempert Report: Consumers in Command
Nielsen Report: Keeping Up With the Economy: Insights and Opportunities in Uncertain Times
Store of the Month: Close to Home
Sustainability Best Practices: It's Not Easy Being Green
Give Green, Get Green
Store of the Month: The Collection
Household Cleaners: Green Clean Is Growing
Meat Conference: Annual Meat Conference Rustles Up Retailers, Vendors to Denver
Produce: Organic Opportunities
Meat: Premium Possibilities
Reusable Bags: Paper, Plastic or Yours?
Technology: Priced to Sell
Equipment: A Flash of Green
What's Next: Editors' Picks for Innovative Products

Progressive Grocer - April 2009