Peas of History
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In 1995, Abbey Ripstra was introduced by a mutual friend to Dan Rockaway,
who was organizing a food buying Co-Op that would be based in the
Edgewater neighborhood. Abbey became a founding member of the new
Chicago Communitarian Co-Op (CCC), which purchased natural foods,
supplements, and health/beauty aids from cooperatively owned
distributor Blooming Prairie. Blooming Prairie allowed buying
clubs to make bulk purchases at a low price of wholesale plus 10%. Bulk
items were emphasized, and the Co-Op had an eventual goal of rotating all
members through every job. Abbey and roommate Rachel Creager were
excited about being in a food Co-Op, but found the long commute from
Wicker Park to Edgewater (by bus) to be prohibitive. It wasn’t
long before they decided to try to recruit enough members from their own
neighborhood to fulfill the minimum order as a separate entity.
For a few months, CCC had a Wicker Park chapter, which operated partially
independently of its parent group.
The Wicker Park Food Co-Op (WPFC) split off on its own to form a nonprofit
organization. A primary goal was to provide access to natural
foods in a neighborhood that had few chain-grocery alternatives. From the start,
WPFC members wanted their group to be somewhat different from their
former umbrella Co-Op. They developed a style of organization
that was, and remains, loosely structured. One difference they wanted
was to allow members an option to maintain membership in times when they
are not able to participate. This desire led to the Non-Working
option, in which members who have not done any Co-Op work in a cycle
may still place an order. This enabled the Co-Op to fulfill
Blooming Prairie’s minimum order, while adding funds to the group’s tight budget.
Another change WPFC made was dropping the requirement for all members to attend
meetings. In order to keep everyone informed of Co-Op business, a
newsletter was established, edited by Connie Ripstra. Meeting
agendas are largely set by those present, and facilitated by whoever volunteers
to do so. Notes from the meeting are delivered to Connie, who
edits them for the newsletter. The newsletter, called “The Market
Basket”, has always been of central importance to the functioning of the Co-Op.
Over the years, membership hovered around 30 households, with orders ranging
from a dozen to about 20 each month. One landmark was the
acquisition of a refrigerator. This is was also to be used by Food Not Bombs,
another AZone-based group. Later the in the summer of 2000, AZone
lost their lease and was without a location for a few months. At this
time, WPFC decided to investigate other options. They were introduced
to the Near Northwest Arts Coalition (NNWAC), who were in planning to create a
cooperatively-owned artist community in rapidly gentrifying Bucktown.
They had office space near North Ave and Western, with the requisite
loading dock. So, the Co-Op chose to buy out Azone’s share of the
refridgerator. It was moved to Acme Art Works, located at 1741 Western Ave.
Changes in the natural foods market lead to changes in distribution.
Distributors have increasingly faced competition from other food
distributors and retailers, such as supermarket beasts like
Wal-Mart. Most of the smaller distributors have merged, been bought out, or
folded. Responding to these changes, in 2002, Blooming Prairie
made a proposition to sell out to United Natural Foods, Inc., a for-profit
national distributor. As a shareholding member of Blooming
Prairie, WPFC chose to vote to continue against this idea, but was strongly
outvoted. Blooming Prairie’s name was effectively changed to
United Natural Foods, Inc.
Over the Fall of 2005, a shrinking Wicker Park Food Co-Op and a similarly shrinking
Soylent Green (who was a UNFI buying club as well) merged into a larger, more stable co-op under
the Wicker Park Food Co-Op name. This brilliant merger was extremely beneficial to all
members of both co-ops. It allowed the WPFC to retain it's current discount total (which was
higher than Soylent Green's), it brought a proven, new bulk-buying procedure to the entire group,
and it also helped foster new friendships and working relationships between neighbors who share a
common goal for less expensive natural groceries.
In November of 2007, the WPFC moved to a new location due to the closing of Acme Art Works. The coop
found a new home in the first floor of an old printing shop located at 3039 W. Fullerton. The
new owners of the building were specifically interested in leasing their raw business space to
a local food cooperative. Dill Pickle Food Co-op
showed interest in the space as well, and soon both groups were making plans to share
the space in a collaborative effort to build their operations out.
The move to Logan Square prompted a re-evaluation of the name "Wicker Park Food Coop" and WPFC's
marketing vision. And so, in January 2008, the WPFC formally changed its name to "Logan
Square Food Buying Club" -- a name that not only better aligns with the new location, but also
better displays the coop as a buying club rather than a storefront (which is what
Dill Pickle Food Co-op is working to build).
Some of the current policies and procedures have changed from what reads above (ex. all current members
must work a job, there is no more non-working fee). To understand our current policies and procedures,
please check out our About page.
Drop in on a meeting; listen to and share some ideas. We find most individuals
who join our buying club already have an interest in co-ops and organic/natural and local food.
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