The bright blue and green building, one of the newest to arise on Washington Street, is home to the Marquette Food Co-op, which is hosting a grand opening Saturday, Oct. 4 following the move from their original location on West Baraga.
Outreach director Natasha Lantz said as a consumer cooperative, the owners of the store were interested in moving locations for more space, greater variety in product selection, wider aisles and improved safety measures. In addition, Lantz said they were renting out the old building.
“We didn’t own that building and it didn’t have a loading dock,” Lantz said. “So, as our store continued to grow, there were some significant needs for more space….There were many reasons that we needed to leave our old location, though we absolutely loved it and our neighborhood.”
The new location, however, isn’t so new.
According to Lantz, the building was constructed in 1954 and was owned by a number of families in the area prior to the co-op. Lantz said it was originally a grocery store.
“So, we’re returning it to it’s original purpose,” Lantz said.
In a flier for the grand opening event, the Marquette Food Co-op (MFC) advertised live music, food demonstrations, free samples, grilling, drawings, chair massages, raffles, bike checks by Lakeshore Bike, aerial gymnastics, face painting and an MFC screen printing station.
Senior outdoor recreation leadership and management major Ryan McPhillips, who has worked at the co-op since its move to the new location, said he was most excited about the screen printing station, which will allow shoppers to bring in one article of clothing to be printed with the MFC logo for free.
McPhillips said he shopped frequently at the old location and was excited to hear they had position openings after the move.
“[The benefits of shopping at the co-op include] support for a lot of local farmers,” McPhillips said. “You can get more connected with your food source, where it’s coming from, as well as just kind of taking a step back from a lot of the major corporations and supporting something that you can also be an owner of. I just think that there’s a lot of benefits.”
Lantz, the outreach director, said the Marquette Food Co-op, established in 1971, receives produce throughout the year that is also stored in the winter as part of the Central U.P. Food Hub. The Food Hub was created by the co-op to bring together local farmers and vendors.
“We may be able to buy products for the first time from our farmers and store them on-site and then be able to sell them throughout the winter,” Lantz said. “Things like cabbage and squash and root crops, like carrots and beets. So that’s very exciting.”
Lantz said the co-op also carries a variety of products made in the U.P., including jams, jellies, maple syrup, honey and Ray’s Polish Fire Hot Sauce from the Keweenaw Peninsula.
The co-op scheduled a number of events for the grand opening this weekend, including free Marquette Food Co-op mugs for the first 100 customers.
Matt Calcaterra, owner of Lakeshore Bike, said they will be at the event doing bike safety checks, beginning at 10 a.m.
“We’ll support the efforts of the Marquette Food Co-op and its new facilities,” Calcaterra said. “It’s a great addition to Marquette and we heard about the event and thought it’s a great thing to do. We want to encourage people to use bicycles more and to be a part of that.”
Grand opening events will take place all day long, with co-op hours from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. Lantz said she estimated the majority of the activities will range from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
“Everyone is invited–including our neighbors, nearby businesses and anyone who is curious about the co-op,” Mary Moe, operations manager, said in a press release. “We’re a community-owned business and this expansion with a deli, fresh meat counter and an expanded market for our local producers is something that our owners have been asking about for years. We’re thrilled to be in the new store and we hope to see many old friends and meet new ones at the grand opening.”
