Dayton’s community-owned grocery store is asking shoppers for a weekly commitment of $25 to keep the business sustainable.
Gem City Market was founded in 2021 to address West Dayton’s food desert. Since then, the store has evolved into a community space with a learning kitchen, community room and more, operating with over 5,400 members-owners.
But things have changed over the years since the co-op's foundation.
"Once we got this physical store we kinda lost the movement aspect. And so now it's like, how to re-engage the local movement," said Amaha Sellassie, board president at Gem City Market.
As costs continue to rise with supply chain pressures like higher fuel prices, the co-op is now asking shoppers to increase how much they spend on a weekly basis from around $19 a person to $25.
“Our goal in the short term is to have 2,800 shoppers a week. Right now we're about 25-ish," Sellassie said.
At its core, Sellassie said the market was founded to address historic redlining that to this day leaves communities with limited access to food. That means they focus on maintaining nutritious and affordable food options for all.
"Check out our deli, we have the only salad bar in the area, and we're asking for those that can to come and support," he said.
'This really is like a lifeline'
Sellassie said around 25 to 30% of their customers shop with EBT cards, which is higher than average for grocery stores.
"And they actually have the highest basket size," he said. "And so that lets us know that for those that with limited economic means, this really is like a lifeline."
Sellasie said even coming in to buy one or two small things could add up for their community store.
“For co-ops to stay open, it needs participants, and our cost kind of stay the same," he said. "But what hurts us is when we don't have the volume.”
Community response
Sellasie said community support has been encouraging in recent weeks after launching the $25 per week campaign.
"Some people are organizing some cash mobs to come and, as a group and collective, shop at the store," he said. "People want to increase programming in the teaching kitchen, especially for some youth programming. So it's been great. It's been encouraging."
He hopes this continues to grow and encourages others to join the more than 5,400 members of the market.
"It's $100, one-time donation and if you're on any kind of food subsidy, it's only $10. Same type of share, there's no distinction between them," he said.
As other area stores look to start co-ops in their neighborhoods, Sellassie said he is also looking forward to collaborating with their teams to find unique and creative ways to adapt to this new normal.
"How do we learn together? How do our mistakes get learned by the ecosystem so others don't make the mistakes and how do we learn from others," he said. "How do we build more solidarity and communities that practice to learn together?"
