In the middle of winter, many Syracuse residents lost their neighborhood option for buying affordable, healthy foods. But thanks to a reinvented budget and management team, a local co-op will be able to reopen this spring.

Eat to Live, a community owned grocery store located on the city’s South Side, closed just before Christmas, only a couple months after its grand opening.

Howie Hawkins, one of the co-op’s board members, said the store ran out of money, partly because the building was more expensive than planned.

“After a couple months we were too low on cash, so we shut it down in order to regroup,” said Hawkins, who is also running for New York state governor.

Hawkins said the co-op will reopen sometime this spring, though he didn’t have an exact date.

Eat to Live is located in a food desert, meaning it’s difficult for local residents to get access to affordable, nutritious foods. It is also a community owned store, which means shoppers can become members for a fee.

Hawkins said the fee to join Eat to Live was $100, which could be paid all at once or over the course of a monthly plan. The monthly plan included a one-time $5 administrative charge, he said.

In addition, the co-op operates at a cost and is not-for-profit. At the end of the year, if the store has made money, that profit is returned to members in the form of a patronage refund, which Hawkins likened to a tax refund.

Hawkins said the co-op’s mission was aimed at providing those in the area with an alternative for doing their shopping.

“People in our neighborhood need more options than the corner store offers,” he said. “They need things that are a better diet and more affordable.”

When the store shut down around the holidays, members were notified, said Shirley Rowser, president of the co-op.

Hawkins confirmed that, saying the board held a meeting to alert members of the impending closure. He added that those who didn’t attend were sent a letter, saying all members were told the closure was only temporary.

The reopening is delayed until spring partly because the co-op needs to hire a new general manager, Hawkins said. The store’s original general manager was fired Nov. 1, according to a Jan. 9 article by Syracuse.com.

The store will also have to go to banks to receive loans for operating capital, Hawkins said, but he’s confident securing a loan won’t be an issue since the building is being used as collateral.

Hawkins added that certain steps are being taken that will help the co-op stay in business once it reopens.

“Our operating budget is sharper than it was before because we’ve had experience,” he said.

In addition, Hawkins said Eat to Live will accept Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, a system that allows welfare departments to issue food benefits through a card.

When the co-op opens its doors once again, Hawkins said there’s the potential to create spin off operations if the store does well financially.

He gave an example of opening a co-op laundromat that would give local residents a cheaper option to wash their clothes, or opening another food co-op in the area to give some shoppers a more convenient location.

But for now, the emphasis is on getting Eat to Live up and running again.

Said Hawkins: “Right now our main focus is we need to get the store we have operating in the black.”

Published on February 19, 2014 at 1:53 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27