Food Coop. The film
The Most Successful Supermarket in New York City Has Zero Customers and 17,000 Workers.
Every day in Brooklyn, hundreds of busy New Yorkers walk past Whole Foods or dozens of other grocery stores promoting natural and organic foods to work at a small supermarket that does no marketing and never holds sales—and yet makes more money per square foot than any other grocery store in New York City . The secret of the Park Slope Food Coop’s more than 40 years of success is simple: to shop there, all 17,000 members—rich and poor, old and young, from every culture and race in the city—have to put in three hours a month of work.
The Park Slope Food Coop is a member-owned and operated food store—founded in 1973 by a group of committed neighbors looking to make healthy, affordable food available to everyone who wanted it. The Coop provides Brooklyn and beyond with quality food and products while serving as a community center and meeting place for its member-owners. Our member- owners contribute their labor: working together to build trust through cooperation and teamwork and enabling the Coop to keep prices as low as possible within the context of its values and principles. Our member-owners believe in the value, rewards and responsibility of collective labor, action and ownership.