People's Food Co-op stays put in downtown Ann Arbor

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | Source: Concentrate

The People's Food Cooperative isn't going anywhere. The long-time healthy food staple has renewed its lease for its current location and will continue on as downtown's only grocery store.

"We're certainly looking at staying in the neighborhood," says Kevin Sharp, marketing and member services manager for the People's Food Co-op. "This location has been really, really good to us."

The People's Food Co-op occupies a handful of storefronts on Fourth Street just south of Kerrytown. It just signed a 10-year lease extension for the downstairs retail space, about 4,500 square feet spread across three historic storefronts.

The storefront grocery co-op specializes in natural, organic, free-trade and environmentally friendly food and products. It has been in business for nearly 37 years and has occupied four different locations downtown during that time. It's been at its current Kerrytown location for about 15 years.

Co-op officials have been entertaining the possibility of moving in recent months, looking at other downtown spaces like the Liberty Lofts retail space. The current location has become a bit cramped as the co-op has grown.

However, its current location is in a prime location, within steps of both the center of downtown and the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market. Co-op officials have valued that synergy and wanted to find a way to preserve it as the co-op grows.

Source: Kevin Sharp, marketing and member services manager for the People's Food Co-op
Writer: Jon Zemke