Wild Onion Market, a co-op grocery store, in Rogers Park opened its doors Wednesday with a goal of keeping money in the neighborhood instead of sending it to the coffers of corporate brands.
“A co-op grocery allows us to make a difference in the food distribution chain by providing a year-round market for many local merchants who get shut out of contracting with big grocery chains,” said Stephen Johnson, president and treasurer of Wild Onion.
The store, 7007 N. Clark St., focuses on fresh and local products and has a section where shoppers can fill their own containers with goods. Many products are sourced from less than 200 miles away such as produce, meat, cheese, sauces and breads.
As many as 100 people attended the grand opening on Wednesday with shoppers perusing fruit and produce such as peaches, carrots and kale as well as shelves of juice, oat milk and condiments.
Shopper and co-op member Lin Prucher said Wild Onion “carries the kind of foods that I am interested in eating and offers them in a sustainable way.”
“I can ride my bike there on good-weather days and drive on other days. It is fortunate we were able to find a location with a parking lot,” said Prucher, who lives near Rogers Park.
The 3,500-square-foot space features colorful murals and furniture made by local artists and makers. Wild Onion’s window bears a quote from anthropologist Margaret Mead that Prucher said captures the store’s spirit: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
A long journey
Wild Onion signed its lease in January 2022 but the co-op’s organizers started laying the foundation for the market in 2014.
Prucher said launching Wild Onion was a concerted effort by many people collaborating over a decade.
“It brings together people from diverse backgrounds with a common interest in co-op values. Now we look forward to increasing community activity,” she said.
The for-profit grocery store has 2,142 co-op owners and members, who raised $2.4 million for the store by buying equity shares, preferred stock and loaning or donating money.
Other funding sources included a $250,000 Equitable Transit Oriented Development grant from the city of Chicago; a $600,000 commercial loan from Devon Bank; and state and local funding including $5,000 from the Rogers Park Business Alliance. ETOD grants support “community-led equitable development near transit,” and Wild Onion is close to the Red Line, Metra and bus lines.
Johnson said many became co-op members because they’re “concerned about corporations controlling the majority of food distribution in the U.S.”
Members live in Rogers Park, West Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown, Evanston and other neighborhoods. The names of Wild Onion’s first 1,000 members are painted on a wall inside the store.
Co-op members can vote for a board of directors, who guide the store’s management. Board members are volunteers, and while some are retired, others work full-time.
“Squeezing in time to work on this when people have full-time jobs is not easy,” Johnson said. “But we’ve done it.”
In contrast to corporate supermarkets, Wild Onion “helps knit a neighborhood together,” said Johnson. “It helps cut down on anonymity and creates a more granular texture in neighborhoods.”
The store, which is open to the public, will also host activities and events, he said. It has a small seating area and space for shoppers to meet local vendors, for example.
Wild Onion has 18 employees, including two managers. The co-op received about 200 applications for cashier and clerk positions, including from former Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market employees.
Attractive to local residents
While the neighborhood isn’t a food desert, Wild Onion’s studies showed there was room for another grocer in the area.
Grocers have notoriously thin margins and are difficult to run, even for big companies. Johnson said Wild Onion found it needs to attract 4% of local residents to be financially viable.
“We wouldn’t have persisted in this effort if we didn’t think we can make a go of this and generate sufficient cash flow,” he said.
Other co-op groceries in the Chicago area include Dill Pickle in Logan Square, Sugar Beet in Oak Park and Chicago Market in Uptown, which is waiting to start construction.
Food co-ops favor selling local, organic and fair-trade products. More than 1.3 million people in the U.S. belong to a food co-op that’s a member of the National Co+op Grocers association.
Wild Onion is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.