Co-op News Round-Up 10/21

All the co-op news that's fit to print, October edition

🌹Two NCG Co-ops, Hanover Co-op and Briar Patch Food Co-op took home the top awards in their categories at the US Co-ops Second Annual Film Festival at the IMPACT Conference. Links to view the winners and other submissions are available at that link.

🌹Wheatsville Co-op in Austin, Texas announced the closing of their Guadalupe location, on Oct 25th. The Guadalupe store was the opened in 1981 as the flagship location of Wheatsville after opening in a small storefront in 1976. The co-op will maintain its South Lamar location which opened in 2012.

🌹The Cooperative Hall of Fame inducted its 2026 class in Washington, DC with five new cooperators. Margaret Bau, Fannie Lou Hamer, Crystal Long, Kevin Still and Michael Toelle were honored with induction. You can read more about their contributions to cooperatives here.

🌹Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO) announced a quarterly journal that readers can subscribe to receive. GEO is a collective that focuses on cooperative and democratic economics.

🌹The Gem City Co-op in Dayton, OH is urging members to support the store by spending at least $25 of their weekly grocery budgets at the co-op. The store is also running a fundraiser with hopes to raise $150k to support operations. Gem City opened in 2021.

🌹The Viroqua Food Co-op in Wisconsin celebrated the retirement of General Manager Jan Rasikas. Rasikas led Viroqua, a model small-town cooperative, for over three decades. Garlic and Roses is attempting to authenticate pictures of Rasikas riding a motorcycle into the sunset. Enjoy retirement Jan!

🌹And lastly, as always, we commend a piece from the Cooperative Grocer Magazine archives. This article from 2004 written by the NCG Board at the time discusses deliberations about a co-op private label brand, which used to exist decades before, and the focus on a National Purchasing Program for member co-ops.