DORCHESTER, MASS. (WHDH) - Dorchester Food Co-op, a new grocery store that provides healthy and sustainable foods, hosted a ribbon cutting on Saturday to announces its grand opening.
The Co-op, which is the only member-owned grocery store in Boston, also supports local farmers and prioritizes reducing food waste. The store is located at 195 Bowdoin Street in Dorchester
Organizers said it was a community effort to open the co-op, which has been in the works for more than a decade.
The co-op’s mission is to challenge the traditional food system, reinvest their earnings back into the community and serve quality food to the neighborhood, owners said.
“We will be building community with one another,” board member Sarah Assefa said at the event. “We will be deeping our friendships with one another. We will be enjoying nutritious food from a local food system which we own together.”
Mayor Michelle Wu, who attended Saturday’s grand opening, said the Dorchester Food Co-op’s member ownership is special.
“We have an incredible business space, community, source of nourishment that is of the people, by the people for the people,” Wu said. “The people who work here and benefit from it should also benefit from the profits, so it’s an amazing model of a worker cooperative, and I was proud to be signed up as a member many years ago as well.”
Owners said their idea could help connect not just the local community in Boston, but the entire country.
“We’ve gotten this far, we can get farther together with the spirit of solidarity and building together,” Assefa said.
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