Tucson’s longest running natural food store, the Food Conspiracy Co-op, turns 40 this month. Like anything that old, it has undergone significant transformation, adapting (sometimes kicking and screaming), to the ever evolving realities of the day. The fact that the Co-op still exists and is actually prospering is nothing short of a socio-economic miracle.
In 1971 the war in Vietnam was still raging. In a storefront on Fourth Avenue, a small but politically charged group known as the John Brown Party (JBP) was meeting regularly to organize protests, teach-ins and, in general, question and challenge the status quo. (John Brown was the infamous renegade slave whose actions represented the greatest hopes of slaves and most horrific fears of slave owners.)
Steve Wind, an east coast transplant who would spend 12 years as a member of the Co-op’s Worker Collective, remembers this time fondly.“The John Brown Party was young, anti-war, and provided a fertile ground for other things.” As the JBP begat a buying club which begat the fledgling non-profit co-op storefront, Wind recalls Fourth Avenue and the Food Conspiracy as an epicenter of progressive thought and community activism.
“Back then there weren’t all these (peace and justice) organizations and so Fourth Avenue really was an alternative place. Between the Aquarian Farmery, Tucson’s first vegetarian restaurant, the Gayatri Center, the first new age book store with a tea room inside and a pyramid on the roof, the Co-op was the main place where anybody who knew anybody would meet.”
“Actually,” Wind continues, “the Co-op was ahead of its time in terms of food analysis, food health and the politics of food. Unfortunately the city wasn’t ready for it; not like today when that’s really taken off.”
For more than 15 years, the Co-op steadily grew. Part of its unique nature and appeal is that it was a store that allowed its members to work—cutting cheese or bagging dried fruits and nuts-- for a store discount. Fearing a tax liability, the discount worker-member program was eventually phased out, and with that, one era ended and a new one began.
The Co-op had become bigger than anyone had imagined. In 1989, with an ambitious new general manager, an agreement was forged with the successful (and cash rich) Tucson Co-op Warehouse (TCW), and a move was made to open a high profile second store.
The Grant Road store was big and bright and exciting. It had an expansive deli and café, tons of shelf space and unlimited parking. Unfortunately, the store was also fraught with problems too numerous to mention and closed within a year. Throwing the Co-op into bankruptcy, TCW employee (and later Co-op Board member) George Milan recalls, “the Co-op owed TCW about $500,000.”
Although the Co-op never closed its doors, it took many years to recover. Eventually, with a stable membership and respectable market share, it quietly emerged from bankruptcy in the late 1990s.
Then, something strange happened. As the popularity of natural foods took off in the early 2000s, the Co-op began to suffer. It had been so used to being the only game in town; it was completely unprepared to deal with competitors such as Wild Oats and Trader Joe’s.
From 2001-05 annual sales plummeted. There was a growing sense from within and without that the Co-op might no longer be relevant.
Enter Ben Kuzma.
Having successfully worked with co-ops in Davis, California and Maine, he was hired as the new general manager. “The Board said we need to compete,” he recalls. “At that point we were also thinking, ‘We gotta get off Fourth Avenue’.” Kuzma estimates he and the Board seriously considered at least 20 different places to either move to or open a second store at.
After a series of sometimes painful cost cutting measures and finally bottoming out, Kuzma eventually connected with the National Co-op Grocers Association which greatly enhanced its purchasing power. Slowly beginning to grow, the Co-op began to gradually re-invest in itself.
“And we got smarter about hiring and paying a living wage.” Three years ago, a proposal was put to the membership to eliminate the 5 percent member discount in favor of a “patronage rebate.” Unbelievably, these last two years, the Co-op has sent checks to the membership, now 1800 strong, ranging from $2-$300. And in 2010, annual sales topped a whopping $3.4 million.
Equally important is the Co-op’s commitment to its original vision as a catalyst for positive change.
Coley Ward, the Director of Outreach, reports the store annually gives away $5000 to various non-profits, voted on by the membership at its annual meeting. This year the store is also supporting a regional CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) with a $5,000 grant to Sleeping Frog Farm in Cascabel. The 40th anniversary party happens Sat, Feb 19 starting at noon with food demos, kids' activities, music, cake, more. On March 27, in Armory Park, the Co-op will co-sponsor its fifth Annual Solar Rock Festival.
Somewhere, somehow, John Brown should be proud.
Although membership owned, the Food Conspiracy Co-op has always been open to the public at large. Aside from its commitment to organic, whole and unprocessed foods, it is distinguished by a knowledgeable staff that is arguably second to none in terms of product information and connecting available merchandise with customer needs. The Co-op is at 412 N. Fourth Ave. 624-4821, FoodConspiracy.org
