Park Slope Food Coop

I worked my shift today at the Park Slope Food Coop. And despite the fact that I am growing a bit tired of it, I have to admit that the Coop is one of the greatest assets to living in Park Slope.

We joined soon after moving to the neighborhood. I wanted a place that had "a more varied selection of whole wheat pastas" and "better produce, seriously, Keyfoods sucks." Since then, I have discovered that there are indeed other options for good produce in our neighborhood, such as Union Market and the Farmers Market on Saturdays. Furthermore, if need be, we could go to Whole Foods in Union Square or the Union Square Farmer's Market. But it was all those options are more cost prohibitive in the long run. And I have problems shopping at Farmer's markets. Don't get me wrong, love the idea, love the whole concept of farmer's markets. But every time I've gone one, including the Austin Farmer's market, I get this weird feeling that the farmer is just watching me, watching as I make decisions, silently appraising whether I am making good produce choices or not. It keeps me from feeling free to browse and look at things. It's just my issue, not sure where it comes from. And I am mildly ashamed of it, to tell the truth.

This is how the seed of the Food Coop was first planted.  About two or three weeks after moving to Brooklyn, Nate and I were walking down Union St (in Brooklyn) at night, exploring our new digs. And we randomly ran into Matt C., an old high school friend of mine. I hadn't seen him in years... so he seems rightfully shocked to run into me just chillin' in "his" neighborhood half way across the country from Austin. But I digress, in our brief chat he told us he was on his way to the Food Coop, a store which I had seen but hadn't ventured into yet. And that was all the recommendation I needed.

A couple of weeks later we were at the orientation to join.

The way it works is pretty simple and totally socialist. It is a true cooperative. Essentially, only active members are allowed to shop there. Every member pays a one time membership fee and a refundable "investment" that you get back when you leave. And every member has to work 3 hours every four weeks - stocking, cash register, sorting things in the basement, pricing, cleaning, bagging, etc. Because of this, there are very few paid employees at the Coop, who coordinate, and take care of business with providers, etc. But since most of the bulk of the busy work is volunteer based, it allows the Coop to keep prices really low. This was a nice surprise, as we joined because of the produce, not realizing that in addition, it's really cheap.

Love the place. Great selection of cheeses, veggies, whole grains, the whole shabang. Now if they could just do something about the ridiculous lines in the evenings....