The Food Co-operative is a member-owned retail grocery store that provides local and organic food. While everyone is welcome to shop there, those who pay the one-time $ 200 membership have access to discounts and financial dividends.

The history of the cooperative has been marked by financial problems. In 2017, he was behind on more than $ 236,500 in supplier invoices, which was due to overstocking and other mismanagement. After years of coming out of the red, Reese said, the co-op is once again facing a possible shutdown, The Bismarck Tribune reported.

The co-op over the past year and a half has seen the introduction of domestic competitors such as Natural Grocers and Costco, as well as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The co-op’s average monthly sales fell from $ 250,000 to less than $ 130,000.

Reese said the co-op got through the last fiscal year thanks to a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program – a form of federal coronavirus aid – and an early panic buy in a pandemic. But now that sales have slowed, she says, it’s hard to budget payroll and proceeds, and buy basic necessities like toilet paper and gloves.

Reese said the co-op has outstanding debt only to business loan holders and members. There are more than 70 individual member lenders, most of whom are cooperative members. They have loans ranging from $ 1,000 to $ 30,000. The total debt between member homeowner loans and commercial loans is about $ 1.5 million, Reese said. All sellers are paid up to date or within 30 days, she said.

To keep the shelves well stocked and start paying off the loan debt, the co-op would need $ 230,000 in sales per month on a consistent basis, according to Reese. She said the business loan debt must be settled before the cooperative can start repaying individual community members.

“Your money matters here,†Reese says. “Multi-million dollar companies have benefited from the pandemic. Sole proprietorships, mom-and-pop stores, and boutiques, it’s hard to keep our heads above water.

The cooperative has focused on promoting and supporting local farmers, according to Reese. The store’s vegetables, eggs, honey and meats are supplied by more than 70 different producers in North Dakota. About 60% of a sale goes to producers, she said.

“We invest a lot of money in families by having them sell here at the co-op,†Reese said. “If we close our doors, it affects a lot more than us and our staff.”

The cooperative has 11 full-time and seven part-time employees.

Jonathon Moser, owner of Forager Farm in Mandan, has worked with the cooperative since its inception and appreciates how it has given people more access to its products. Instead of waiting for a farmers market or ordering a special delivery, consumers can find his vegetables on the cooperative’s shelf seven days a week, Moser said.

The decline in the cooperative’s sales directly affected his business. Not being able to sell so many products in the store was a big blow to his bottom line. He said the loss of the cooperative would mean the loss of an income stream for him and his family.

“It’s such a nice and easy way for people to support their local farming community,†Moser said. “Yes, their prices might be higher, but at the end of the day I get a bigger discount than if I had to sell through other channels. It helps build the local economy and get the money flowing here. “

In the last quarter of business, only an average of 900 of the co-op’s 3,900 members were repeat buyers, Reese said. Of that number, only 200 members spent $ 100 or more per month.

Reese said the co-op does not expect people to buy all of their groceries from the co-op. As a mother of six, she understands how much it costs to feed a family. Instead, officials are asking shoppers to spend $ 25 of their weekly grocery budget at the co-op.

“If a few thousand people were spending $ 25 a week, we wouldn’t be in trouble at all,†Reese said. “It won’t thrive, but we would at least be able to pay payroll consistently and get a lot of good product on the shelf.â€

Co-op board chair Dina Baird said attendance at the anniversary event was a sign of good things to come. Although the co-op is not yet clear, Baird hopes this is a turning point and the co-op can begin to move in a positive direction.

“It was like there was still wind in our sails,†Baird said. “It was the validation that we have a place in the community, that people want us here.”

At the moment, the co-op operates on a weekly basis, considering every purchase and pinching pennies where possible. Reese said it was not clear how long the co-op could survive under these conditions. All she knows is that the management team will do everything in their power to keep North Dakota’s only food co-op open. Prairie Roots Co-op in Fargo and Amazing Grains Food Co-op in Grand Forks have closed due to a lack of revenue.

“We didn’t give up,†Reese said. “We’re just going to keep moving forward and hope we’re going to get out of this and develop a community of people who want to support North Dakota through the co-op.