The New York Times writes a story and has a video on Brooklyn stores. We prepared our own video above on the new stores opening in the Mission District.
“Food is the best, the clearest manifestation of ‘a tale of two cities,’ ” said Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, contrasting brownstone Brooklyn, thick with farm-to-table restaurants and of-the-moment cafes, with the borough’s eastern and central areas, where many can barely afford to eat.
Co-ops could help bridge the gap, advocates maintain. Since they are owned and run by members, a co-op’s labor costs and prices are usually lower than at supermarkets or convenience stores. READ MORE.
How many of these gentrifying establishments have you promoted over the years, ML?
Are you suggesting that ML readers are not interested in hearing about new restaurants and food emporia?
Or are you suggesting that ML should be 100% agitprop all the time, with every story dripping with envy and class warfare?
Co-op’s can cost as much or more. The lack of a profit margin makes little difference with food stores, where margins are wafer-thin anyway. The co-op model is better to suited to businesses with high margins.
And co-ops tend to be ideologically sclerotic, leading to infighting and pointless destructive squabbles, like the one at Rainbow about whether they should sell Israeli food.
And as one-offs, co-ops do not have the economies of scale that typify such high-volume businesses. That’s why most produce at Rainbow costs as much as the equivalent product at Wholefoods, only with more attitude and less hygiene.
Rainbow is a thriving business that treats their workers very well. You don’t like them because you don’t agree with what you perceive is “their politics”, which is fine, but just be honest.
My point was limited to demonstrating how being a co-op does not, ipso facto, mean lower prices.
Rainbow Grocery is giving 100% of its profits for 3 days to Philippines hurricane relief. Tell me, oh pontificator, what you’ve done for humanity lately.
I thought Rainbow was run as a non-profit?