Cape Ann Food Co-op closes doors
Cape Ann Food Co-op closes doors
The Cape Ann Food Cooperative in Gloucester, MA, shut its doors after 31 years in business.
The retail end of the co-op's operations served 860 households in the Cape Ann area, offering natural and organic foods to its arts community clientele.
"The bottom line is we had been losing money - $154,000 - over the last 10 years," said Judy Parisella, interim general manager of the co-op. The membership voted to keep the co-op going despite the losses, but "that did not translate into green," she said.
Noting that one of the mandates of the cooperative had been to fill a need that was not otherwise being met, Ms. Parisella said that organic and natural foods are now widely available from a variety of sources, which was not the case 31 years ago. "We were able to set a precedent for natural foods and organics," she said.
The retail end of the co-op's operations served 860 households in the Cape Ann area, offering natural and organic foods to its arts community clientele.
"The bottom line is we had been losing money - $154,000 - over the last 10 years," said Judy Parisella, interim general manager of the co-op. The membership voted to keep the co-op going despite the losses, but "that did not translate into green," she said.
Noting that one of the mandates of the cooperative had been to fill a need that was not otherwise being met, Ms. Parisella said that organic and natural foods are now widely available from a variety of sources, which was not the case 31 years ago. "We were able to set a precedent for natural foods and organics," she said.