[discuss-dan] Co-ops in Denver and Boulder

[Allen Butcher <allenbutcher@netzero.net>]

Hi
Wanted to give everyone an update on food co-op happenings.  At the recent 
Denver Green Party meeting last Monday (30 people attending, one of our 
largest meetings!) we created a new committee called: Green Economy 
Committee.  This will eventually spin off to be a separate organization, 
the Green Economy Council of Denver (GECo Denver) to be developed as a 
Green chamber of commerce.

The idea is to use our Green Party resources to aid a range of different 
kinds of co-ops and worker-owned businesses, including food co-ops.  We'll 
be doing a directory and Webpages and other projects.  Our Green Economy 
Committee meeting is Monday, Dec. 4, 7:00 at my house.  303-355-4501.  Food 
co-op will be one of several topics.

Specifically about a Denver Food Co-op, an important thing to keep in mind 
is that if the goal is to save money that can be done with preorder bulk 
purchasing, but not with a storefront.  My thought is therefore that we 
ought to focus upon developing the preorder groups.  We have an offer from 
Patricia Smith to use the accounts that she has with several different 
suppliers (she had a coffee house for a while) including Rainbow Foods 
(warehouse at 32nd and Chambers) and Boulder Fruit Company (warehouse in 
Broomfield, I think), Frontier Herbs in Iowa and other suppliers.  We 
needn't order strictly from Tucson Co-operative Warehouse (TCW).

It seems to be problematic for us here in Denver to try to work with the 
co-op in Littleton, organized by Cassandra and Pavlos.  TCW only delivers 
once a month, I think, and will not take on other stops than what they 
already have.  Just coordinating things between Denver and Littleton is a 
problem.  If we really want to get this going up here in Denver, I suggest 
that we take Patricia up on her offer and plan a meeting with her to begin 
ordering.

If anyone is interested in this, send to me an email or call me and I'll 
forward you message to Patricia (she said that she is having computer 
trouble).  Patricia can then get back to you about scheduling a meeting.

As Doug has already shared a post about a new food co-op store being 
organized in Boulder, I won't repost that item.  Personally, I think it 
would be better for us to focus on organizing buying clubs that will 
combine into something like a warehouse store (like Sams Club, for 
instance) where people or buying clubs can come in and buy bulk 
quantities.  Then if people want to start their own store fronts (like 
Vitamin Cottages) those could be sole proprietorships or worker-owned 
businesses rather than co-ops.  Unlike Boulder, Denver is a big 
city.  Boulder is small enough that one co-op store can serve the whole town.

So, who has energy for starting buying clubs?  We can have several in 
different parts of Denver.

If you are interested in the Green Economy Committee of the Denver Green 
Party, please give me a call or come to our meeting.  Or let me know of 
your interest and I can send to you the information I have on the proposal.
Allen


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