Food co-ops, known for communal culture, adjusting to changes as coronavirus forces New Yorkers to stay apart

Workers at the 4th Street Food Co-op in Manhattan.
Workers at the 4th Street Food Co-op in Manhattan.(Courtesy, Maurice Narcis)

For the first time in its nearly 50-year history, the Park Slope Food Coop is relying entirely on paid employees to run the shop.
The famed Brooklyn grocery, like many New York City food cooperatives, had always required its 17,000 members to volunteer several hours every month to keep costs low.
But in this new world of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, the Union St. business has had to make significant changes.
“We’ve suspended our member labor system,” said general manager Joe Holtz. “We decided that in order to keep them safe, we had to reduce the number of members coming here and hire some people.”
The bump in payroll, coupled with fewer shoppers, is taking a toll on the shop’s finances. Holtz wrote an open letter to members last month breaking down exactly how much money they were losing — but he refuses to raise costs for customers.
“I hope to hold the line on that,” he said firmly.
The Greene Hill Food Co-op stopped requiring its 380 active members to volunteer inside the store due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Greene Hill Food Co-op stopped requiring its 380 active members to volunteer inside the store due to the coronavirus pandemic.(Greene Hill Food Co-op)
Across the city, food co-ops known for their people-over-profit mentality are facing similar tests of faith as the pandemic forces New Yorkers further apart.
There are all the regular rules in place: Wash your hands before coming in, wear gloves when handling produce, don’t linger too long inside.
But at the Greene Hill Food Co-op about 2 miles away, owners have also been toying with the idea of an online ordering system that would make the shopping process a lot safer.
“As a community-based organization, that idea took a lot of getting used to. Is that building a community if we’re saying, ‘Just come and pick up your stuff?’ " asked Matthew Talmage, one of the executive directors.
“We probably wouldn’t have pursued it had it not been for the pandemic," he said. “It’s pushing us in directions we didn’t expect.”
Greene Hill Food Co-op stopped requiring its 380 active members to volunteer inside the store as well, and recently hired several paid workers to pick up the slack.
The grocery also opened its doors to the public after the coronavirus crisis wiped out nearby shops. They’ve considered extending that offer once the disease dies down.
“If we’re the closest place where others can shop and get food, we should be available to them,” said Talmage. “It’s all about flexibility.”
The Park Slope Food Co-op is no longer using volunteers.
The Park Slope Food Co-op is no longer using volunteers.(Tracy, John, Freelance)
The 4th Street Food Co-op in Manhattan has always been open to the public, but because of the size of the store, it’s now allowing only four people inside at any time — including the staff.
“If we have two shift workers, we only allow two customers in,” said Josh Gosciak, a 25-year member of the East Village grocery. “It’s not a large store, so we can’t accommodate that many people, and we need to keep the distance," he said.
The co-op, founded in 1973, considered closing its doors when the crisis was at its peak.

“That was discussed and immediately people said, ‘No, let’s stay open,’ ” Gosciak said. "We’ve been through several crises, 9/11, Hurricane Sandy. Our people are really resilient.”

So dedicated are some Greene Hill Food Co-op members that Talmage said more of them than ever have shown up at board meetings.

“Our monthly board meetings have been attended better than ever because we’re doing it by Zoom," he said. “Now one of our first questions is, ‘Who’s at their first board meeting?' And that’s exciting to see."

It’s that kind of enthusiasm that keeps co-op owners holding on to hope that they’ll get through this, even if some rules have to change along the way.

“We are way stronger than this virus. We have dedicated members who will never let this place go away," Holtz said.

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