Downtown Fairbanks co-op grocery store in the works
Published Sunday, September 28, 2008
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FAIRBANKS — As prices rise at the grocery store, stories spread about contaminated food and people grow increasingly concerned with carbon footprints, a Fairbanks man is pursuing a grocery alternative.
Dave Lacey wants to establish a cooperative grocery store with a full line of natural foods and green products. Think hormone-free buffalo meat raised in Delta, locally produced milk, green goods like light bulbs and natural sponges, even honey and syrup made in the Interior.
The proposal has a little something for everyone.
People concerned about high costs of imported food can shop from locally grown options.
Those worried about the environment can rest assured they’re lessening the carbon footprint associated with transportation and, in some cases, mechanical food production and processing.
Health-conscious buyers will know where their food comes from, and can be confident they’re ingesting fresh, organic, healthful foods packed with nutrients.
Plans for a cooperative grocery have been under way for several years, led by volunteers with an altruistic bent. The constant driver has been Lacey.
“I’m a member of the community,” he said. “I have the business skills and the experience. It seemed like it was a niche I could fill.”
Health, too, ranks high among Lacey’s personal values. He seems to appreciate an opportunity to use his skills to raise awareness and — hopefully — fresh foods’ availability in the community.
“The closer proximity people have to their food, the better their health,” Lacey said, lamenting a national addiction to fast, easy food with little to no nutritional quality. “Eventually, we’re paying the price. We know that’s going to have health ramifications. ... It’s always smart to work on the prevention, rather than trying to fix it later.
“We need to be responsible. It’s time.”
Before World War II and construction of the Alaska Highway, the Tanana Valley grew a hearty supply of solid crops to feed the Interior, things like potatoes that could be stored below ground through the cold winter months.
“It used to be self-sufficient up here,” Lacey said.
That was before new transportation lines paved the way for cheap imports, which knocked out local production, he said.
He wants to bring that self-sufficiency back.
“We have a good growing season here,” he said. “There’s a tremendous agricultural potential. We have to become more self-sufficient — the handwriting is on the wall.”
Here’s how it may work. Individuals with an interest in natural, organic and local foods can sign on as members for a fee, payable in installments or in a lump sum. Those members get to shop at the co-op and would elect a board of members to direct decision-making and hire a store manager.
Organizers also expect the store to offer a new, year-round, highly visible outlet for local farms and other producers. Not only is locally grown food touted for its health and the good it does for the local economy, but communities can limit the tremendous costs associated with hauling food in from far off.
“Much of the food we grow here in the Interior can be stored through the winter,” Lacey said, referencing root crops like carrots, rutabagas and potatoes, or sturdy produce like cabbage. “As the saying goes, that allows us to take the so-called carbon miles out of the food. We’re at the end of the supply line here.”
Lacey and his supporters still have plenty of work to do — securing funding, finding the right site and building a solid base of cooperative members to start. But he’s well on the way.
Supporters covered a market study through Cooperative Development Services, which identified a modest market for the Interior’s population and offered recommendations. Organizers still need more than $2,000 to compensate a consultant for travel and supplies. An Internet direct appeal spread through Fairbanks last week, encouraging PayPal donations through the cooperative Web site, pending a larger fundraiser later this fall.
Local musicians Robin Dale Ford and Pat Fitzgerald have agreed to host a fundraiser party after elections, moose hunting and winter preparation settles down. Alex Clarke, who completes their sometimes-trio, will join in the fun, along with two special guests for a low-key jam session: Ron Veliz and Barney McClure.
Ford said although she hates shopping in general, she loves natural food markets and is excited to think one could open in Fairbanks.
“In this day and age of shipping and gasoline prices and our economy, Fairbanks needs to think about food in a big way,” she said. “It’s food, it’s Fairbanks and it’s more than food. This felt like a nonpolitical, community, nonpartisan thing to throw my energy behind.”
Lacey is meeting with property owners and hopes to secure a site soon, ideally with about 5,000 square feet. He expects retail operations to take up 3,500, leaving 1,500 for storage. He’s counting on a downtown location, which would be fairly central to a broad geographic market and could sprout partnership opportunities with Vision Fairbanks. One of that group’s priorities in its planned downtown revitalization is bringing a grocery store back to the community’s historic heart.
Once a site is finalized, Lacey can take his business plan to the bank, where he hopes to obtain a loan covering about half the projected startup costs. The other half would come from member-owners, grants, partnerships and other sources.
Mike Emers owns Rosie Creek Farm along with his wife, Joan Hornig. Re-working mounds of bagged carrots at his busy Farmer’s Market booth, Emers said he’s excited about a co-op and believes the community will buy into the plans as well.
“We’re certified organic, and that would mean a lot for customers there,” Emers predicted. “That’s the venue we’d like to sell at.”
In fact, he said, if a local grocery were to open, the farm would consider expanding. Currently, about 100 members own shares in the farm, collecting fresh food in exchange for funds. Other produce is sold directly to customers at the Farmer’s Market and to a few local restaurants. While he’s looked into it, selling to large chain groceries isn’t the right market for Rosie Creek, Emers said.
“We’re big for the Farmer’s Market, but we are really a small farm,” he said.
Contact staff writer Rena Delbridge at 459-7518.
Community Discussion
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This sounds like a fantastic project. I wonder if the old Alaska Marketplace building would work for them?
I am so excited! This is a wonderful thing for our community, I will definately be a member.
I think this is a good direction for Fairbanks. But, I hope they can realize their ideas. I just cannot get past the thought of there being little on the shelves, in say,February when very little is happening agriculturally in Fbks. Which leads to shipping things from the lower 48. I hope to see this business thrive. But, it will be hard to pay twice as much for something you can get in the organic section of Fred Meyer. The local online organic grocery 'Natural Choice Market' didn't work. I hope Lacey realizes his Niche, and stays true to it.
Cool. It'll be small though. 5000 square feet isn't all that much. Most Walmarts are over 100000 square feet. That's not even counting the super centers. I'm thinking it'll probably be around the size of a produce section at one of the larger stores.
I'm pretty sure Rosie Creek and other farms in the area could easily produce through the winter and fill a store that small.
I am glad to see self-sufficiency. What will happen when someone gets sick from food contamination? Then the regulators and lawyers will appear from the woodwork...
There's always a hand wringer or two in the crowd. Good luck with the store if you can get it up and running.
There are 2 commercial greenhouses sitting empty in Delta Jct. If a good market was open maybe some one would bother working them again. It is a shame to see them sit empty!
Cool idea!! I wish you only the best of luck!! My husband and I do a large garden and greenhouse,( I'm still canning tomatoes!), we co-op with neighbors for chicken, pork, beef and rabbit! Wonderful, fresh, chemical and drug free food! Everyone should support this!
YES!
blue5011 - I personally would be willing to waive liability for the food producers in order to participate.
i would shop there. I bought some Fred Meyer brand sour cream last week, i went to stir it before putting on crunchy tacos, and there was a beatle in it. yes.. he was dead. or she whatever the case may be. i'll try the stuff that gets dealt with by hand and not machines that people cant see whats in the little cups before the product gets put in. I hope they can get this up and running! Count me in!
Sincerely,
Full-Of-The-Heebie-Jeebies
Is this the same Dave Lacey who ran a dozer through all the test areas of trees just so he could put in a road to some property. If so he is maybe not the right person to be running this operation. The DNM should look into this and let us know what ever happenned to the person responsible for all the destruction.
Co-Op store is fine....But ya just had to throw global warming into the mix.....MORE BUNK!
This should be a good test of what the banks in this town will give out business loans for. Hopefully the DNM will keep people informed on the progress or lack of progress. Let's just hope he keeps the government out of it.
a1shiva: That was Lace, not Lacey.
He's a businessman who sees a need for an organic co-op store, no one said he was a patouli-dipping bleeding-heart environmentalist. who cares if he paved a road to a property, what business is it of yours?
a1shiva, you should know what you are talking about before putting your foot in your mouth. I think you are referring to David Lace, a good friend of mine. Your statement is wildly inaccurate also, Dave had permission to put his road in, but the permitting process got tangled up in government red tape. All that was eventually straightened out. It is simply a winter trail, and contrary to your statement that he "ran a dozer through all the test areas of trees", nothing could be farther than the truth. But that is par for the course for this forum, and the Fairbanks regulars that hang out here.
Why do you think it's such a waste of time and money?
let’s not be too hasty fellow fairbanksans. this could be a very smart move. stop and ask yourselves “are we ready for an actual smart move relative to downtown fairbanks?” are we not happy with the fact that over the last decade we have lost our little town to a handful of tourist-minded junk-selling businessmen and the local legal government. are we not happy with the ‘cathedral’ we built by the river for the judges and lawyers -the one that pays us no taxes- and are we not happy with the parking buildings we built to accompany them when we can’t park anywhere? are we not happy with sadler furniture as the center piece of our town since i feel we all share this thought fairbanks is the cheap furniture capital of the world? (i personally buy at-least 2 couches a month and who among us doesn’t like to play miniature golf in the dark - six months of it is not quite enough any more). are we not happy shopping in the lunar (read: ‘just-like-america’) landscape of our new box-store-land and leaving our town to the ‘others’? THINK FAIRBANKS. don’t be making willy-nilly smart moves.
i like old hippies.
Hope this happens! We wouldn't have to go to the Outside or online to get good co-op items! Now we could save money, buy green, stay healthy, and support local farmers and our local economy. We'd be supporters, ya betcha.
This is a great idea. Along those lines, whatever happened to the Whole Earth Food Store which was on College Road (about across from where Toy Quest is today) and later in the basement of College Mall (down stairs from the old Hot Licks store) and later behind Sourdough Sam's on University Avenue? The Whole Earth store did not feature local goods as far as I could tell, but maybe there are some lessons in their experience. It was a great place with good food and a nice ambience, and bulk foods. They have since disappeared.
It may be true that selection will be a bit thin in the dead of winter. I wonder if they could carry locally made goods (clothing, knit-wear, etc.), baked goods, and perhaps a line of healthy products which would not overwhelm what we can produce locally but would fill the shelves.
How would one become a supplier to the store? For instance, some folks make a good rhubarb or berry wine, excellent jams and preserves, seasonal cakes, and candies. How would one qualify to sell to the co-op? I am thinking the USDA, and the Alaska DEC (health and sanitation) would need to be involved in approving local "kitchens". Ugh! But, OK. These are just questions that come to mind.
It will have to start small but I love this idea! One of the best things about Fairbanks is creative, positive people. What a nice way to give a sense of "flavor" to downtown Fairbanks -- not just a tourist zone anymore!
eaglerock00 - Wow! Seriously, a Beatle? Which one was it? Paul, Ringo? Did you happen to get an autograph? Did you find out how he got in there in the first place? LOL
Good luck with the store Mr. Lacey. It will be difficult as your pricing will make it tough to compete with the big box store.
But seriously though, carbon footprint? Marketing directed towards the "greens" who want to "save the planet" works quite well. Just remember, it is a niche crowd.
And will your building be operated by wind towers and solar panels? Will you carry those mercury-filled fluorescent light bulbs that crap out after one winter? And why fund-raisers? Why must the community always support these small, local, organic food stores? If it is a lucrative business, why not take out a small business loan? Or did I just answer my own question?
Fun idea, but still just hippie dreams...
And alaskaphil - being "green" is not being "creative". And being "positive" in this context means making green, or moolah, as I like to call it. Ever hear of the "Eco-anxiety" lady? She counsels people who are so mentally messed-up from thinking that they have "destroyed" the planet. She gives them each a rock to carry around and PRESTO! they feel "grounded" and "at ease". Uh-huh...
http://www.soulwayscenter.com/index.php?...
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