Urban Greens Food Co-Op finally announces location (Providence, Cranston: 2015, credit)

[ormari]

For those of you in or near Providence who have not heard, there is a Food Cooperative called Urban Greens that has been in the works for a number of years. They operate a buyers club and are working toward opening a grocery store on the city's west side.

It has come to my attention that they have now announced the location for their store, which they are going to build from the ground up at the old Louttit Laundry/What Cheer Laundry site at 93 Cranston Street in the West End. In addition to the West End neighborhood, the site is close to the neighborhoods of Elmwood, Federal Hill, and Upper South Providence; it's also not far from Downtown. It's accessible by four RIPTA bus lines. The location is in the middle of what the USDA calls a food desert. Their aim is to serve the diverse community by stocking healthy food which is locally sourced when possible.

This is yet another positive sign for the community.

[Pvdjames]

I saw the great news the other day!!! This will be so great for the area and is such a perfect location for this grocery.

[ormari]

I came across this story about it:

EcoRI

[ormari]

Further press about Urban Greens on RIPR.org:

With a co-op, you buy-into the business, sort of like membership in a club. You won’t have to be a member to at Urban Greens to shop there. But you do get some benefits like a vote in board elections or store credit if the store is successful each year. It doesn’t rely on high profits said Trevvett.

“What makes a co-op sustainable is that its customers are also its owners, that there’s investment in the store from the very people who are shopping there.”

But Urban Greens doesn’t have a corporate headquarters. They’ll be run by investor-owners, theoretically locals, who’ll also shop there. The store will still need to cover operating costs. To do that it will need to appeal to a diverse population, where trendy bars are popping up next to abandoned buildings.