Community Food Co-op Downtown

This is my go-to grocery store. It's right downtown and has an incredible produce selection! All year round they have an assortment of produce. I went down to four stars for this because 1. I am biased in my love for the Mount Vernon food co-op and 2. They've recently redid their meat department and don't carry the same cuts that they used to. That said, this place has high quality food and alcohol. If you don't mind paying a little extra for the quality, I recommend coming here!

This co-op is an absolute disappointment. Their mistreatment of workers is evident in high turnover and low spirits among employees in general. How can this be a community co-op when so many members of your community, including your minimum wage workers, cannot afford to shop here? This is a luxury grocery store for middle-class suburbanites and has no “community hub” feel as it once did. I’m also curious as to why this location has not unionized yet- your employees would obviously benefit from having their voice heard and leveling the power between employee and employer. I’m aware there have been several attempts that seem to fall through. Do better and stick to your values- model ethical business and employment practices and treat your workers better. I hear it from everyone who has recently shopped here- the employees are not happy here and that is a direct reflection of poor management and policies. Edit: that’s a completely unsatisfactory “shop somewhere else” answer. Any consumer owned co-op should be held to higher standards than their competitors. This store is misaligned with their values and should name themselves Whole Foods. Poor reviews from former employees can be easily found. Anyone who has owned and managed retail businesses, like myself, have a clear understanding of the DIRECT correlation between management, company policies and employee wellbeing. Other shoppers have even noted their observations of poor employee morale in their reviews. This business is due for an investigation by the Department of Labor and Industries. Seriously, shop somewhere else.

This is my favourite grocery store!!!!!!!!! Great use of inferior space. They have a very good selection of health and wellness products. Love their initiatives with recycling and reducing waste. The company is attentive to details of how the place is run. You can see that they are passionate about what they do and what they believe in. Love the seating area upstairs too. Everything is designed with the consumers in mind. I wish we have a place like this in BC, Canada!

Went here to buy candy on Halloween. They do not sell candy as a normal person imagines it, which is unfortunate because they are the only grocery store that is truly downtown, but 5-stars for the impressive commitment to the “we refuse to be a commercial grocery store” bit/brand. I would trade this for a Safeway so fast, because then everyone who lives downtown would be able to walk to a grocery store. But it’s not the co-ops fault nobody else is downtown.