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October 3, 2009

STEPHANIE SALTER: For two months of lattes, you can own (part of) a grocery store

By Stephanie Salter

TERRE HAUTE — It’s too bad the Terre Foods Cooperative Market isn’t a Wall Street investment bank or the auto industry. Then, the federal government would come through with some guaranteed loans so the much-anticipated project could kick into high gear.

But a member-owned grocery co-op, which is way overdue for a city the size of Terre Haute, seems to slip into every kind of economic Catch-22 you can imagine, including the current, ultra-tight lending climate for all but the financial elite.

The U.S. Small Business Administration, which exists to aid fledging endeavors like this planned specialty food store, will not extend loans to retail cooperatives.

How about going the non-profit route with grant money? Foundation funding? State and local dollars earmarked for worthy non-profits?

Thanks to an Indiana law passed many years ago, cooperatives are not allowed to incorporate as non-profits.

That status would have been the Terre Foods organizers’ first choice; non-profit incorporation served Blooming Foods handsomely when its co-op was created in Bloomington back in the 1970s and the laws were different.

Like Blooming Foods then, the Terre Foods folks’ interest lies not in amassing a thick, black bottom line, but in establishing a self-sustaining market that offers healthy food that is organic or responsibly grown and comes from local farms, orchards and ranches as much as is possible.

You know, a community-serving enterprise?

In a right and proper world — or at least a state with different laws — government and private entities would be knocking at Terre Foods’ virtual door, asking how they could help. What we have instead is a group of careful, smart, diligent local citizens trying to sell (the hard way) a concept that solid market analysis already indicates will succeed in the Terre Haute area.

So, this is a pitch for that concept.

After months of talking about it (and seeing my neighbors’ yards sprout “I’m A Member” signs), I finally committed myself earlier this week to the one-time, $200 Terre Foods Co-op membership fee. I’m paying in four, $50-a-month payments.

The co-op organizers have a variety of payment plans, including one they call, “Talk to us,” which basically means, if you will pledge your loyalty and put some money down, they will work something out. Ten monthly payments of $20 is another option, as is paying off the $200 over two-and-a-half years, which means almost everyone can afford to become a co-op member.

As I said, unlike Wall Street, the group’s goal isn’t to maximize profits and make a killing. The goal is to involve as many member-owners as possible in the creation and maintenance of the Terre Foods Cooperative Market. Banks that are lending to such enterprises these days want to see many things before they let go of the money. Not least on the list is lots of official member support.

At the end of this week, Terre Foods had just about 200 members. Several of us signed up at the group’s annual meeting Tuesday night. The organizers (and I) believe there are easily another 100 or 200 people/households out there who have meant to join or would in a New York minute if they knew about the project and the payment plans.

People who drive from here to Blooming Foods or the two Sahara Marts in Bloomington, people who brave ripped up I-465 to get to Whole Foods on 86th Street in Indianapolis — every one of you folks should be a member of Terre Foods Cooperative.

In less than a year, we could have our own market with healthy foods, supplements, bulk bins of grains and spices, and environmentally friendly bath, kitchen and paper products. Right downtown.

The preferred site for the market is on the southeast corner of Seventh and Poplar streets, across from the main Vigo County Public Library. The co-op has an agreement to buy the vacant building and parking lot there, but the deal depends on bank loans. And bank loans depend on memberships and member loans that will serve as collateral.

Let me say right here, Terre Foods is a long way from realizing its member loan goal — about $208,000 away. The steering committee, which has guided the project wisely and steadily for the last two years, believes that more members will bring more loans.

The committee probably is right. Given that the minimum member loan is $2,000, however, I am more comfortable lighting candles and praying for a few well-heeled Wabash Valley angels who would like to put their loan money where their health-food-seeking mouths are. (Remember, it’s a loan, not a gift.)

Lifetime memberships for $200 that can be paid off at once or over time are more my speed.

For some people, an important benefit of being a co-op member is voting for board directors and having a say in how the business is run. My priority is simply to help get this show on the road. I feel about the cooperative market as I do about Terre Haute’s successful curbside recycling program: All I really want is for them to exist and thrive because they are good for the community in which I live.



Stephanie Salter can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com.



Check it out

• To become a member of Terre Foods Cooperative market, explore www.terrefoods.org, write to the steering committee at P.O. Box 3043, Terre Haute, IN 47803, or call (812) 553-0444.

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