The Cooperative Grocery or The CoG was a consumers'

Consumers' cooperative

Consumer cooperatives are enterprises owned by consumers and managed democratically which aim at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of their members. They operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a form of mutual aid, oriented toward service rather than pecuniary profit...

 food cooperative in Emeryville, California

Emeryville, California

Emeryville is a small city located in Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay. Its proximity to San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the University of California, Berkeley, and...

. The cooperative opened its doors in November 2007 and closed on October 31, 2010. The cooperative included an online store accessible from its website.

History

In its planning period, the business was also known as the Berkeley Cooperative Grocery or Berkeley CoG. Once the storefront/warehouse location was located at 1450 67th Street in Emeryville, the business name was changed to The Cooperative Grocery.

Membership

The Cooperative Grocery was a worker/member coop in which all shoppers must also be members. Members worked 2.5 hours every four weeks. There was no paid staff. The cooperative was based on the model of the Park Slope Food Coop

Park Slope Food Coop

The Park Slope Food Coop is a food cooperative located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. It is one of the oldest and largest active food co-ops in the United States...

in Brooklyn.

Members paid a $25 joining fee and a $100 investment that paid for increasing stock. The investment was refundable when a member leaves; the joining fee was not.

Closing

Upon closing, the balance of money owed vs money in the bank was such that members did not receive a refund on their investment.