DELRIDGE GROCERY: ‘Happy that it’s happening’ – groundbreaking celebration, and what’s ahead

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

After shovels went into the ground at today’s celebration of the future Delridge Grocery Co-op store, a little rosemary plant followed.

With it, high hopes for the next stage of a decade-long journey toward opening a small food store in Delridge were planted too. Among those who voiced them, Brent Curtis of the DGC board:

The brief ceremony was part of a three-hour event outside and inside the store-to-be, a 2,200-square-foot space at 5444 Delridge Way SW, beneath the 60+-apartment supportive-housing complex Cottage Grove Commons. The complex is owned and operated by DESC, which promised the space to the co-op long ago; its executive director Dan Malone was among those at today’s celebration, along with City Councilmember Lisa Herbold and council candidate Phil Tavel.

But this was not an event for dignitaries’ speechifying. It was for the co-op and its community.

It has grown to about 500 member-owners, even before the store is built and opened, but there’s room for much more. Tables at today’s event invited signups for roles from financial planning to public relations to coffee-conversation organizing. The wooden spoons offered to members might be seen as an invitation to stir things up.

As longtime board member Ranette Iding explained in our conversation earlier this week, there is a lot of shaping to do.

As architect Parie Hines of LD Arch Design (WSB sponsor) explained to those who stopped by her table, the interior design (added above) has many potential moving parts, depending on what the community wants.

In a sign that it was time to get back to work, an hour after the planting ceremony, co-op members who had hung around gathered for their annual meeting. This was the first one held in the store space, which previously had only opened for a public peek four years ago during then-Mayor Ed Murray‘s Delridge “Find It, Fix It” walk.

The meeting addressed “what’s next”:

First, Iding recapped the history, and how the community had shaped the DGC – originally the Delridge Produce Co-op (whose founder Galena White was at today’s celebration) – along the way. “We just kept plugging along.” In the past few years, some grant funding helped push them along the way to a decision point “Do we do this or not?” and then “a whirlwind of super-busy activity.” Architect Hines recapped about the flexibility of her design, which includes a seating area as well as food displays and checkout counters. Today, the display tables held photos from DGC’s first decade:

Board member Curtis talked about the deals and donations already compiled as furnishings – a sales counter on wheels from the former Safeco Field, $45! – and stressed “ownership.”

“It has to be a community space, more than food,” he stressed. “We truly need a lot of engaged people.” That starts at the top – joining the board – which has just five members right now. Getting involved also means more than showing up for a work party – it means having, for example, house parties.

They have construction money – that’s phase 1 – said Curtis, while adding that they need $100,000 more funding to get to phase 2, whether it’s member loans, grants, donations. Local businesses can get involved too.

Board member Bob Poor talked about membership – $100, but you don’t have to pay it all at once. The DGC has more than 500 members right now, and the national average for a co-op is that one in five members can make a loan – $1,000 or more. “Banks love knowing that co-ops have strong support,” which begets more support. Yes, there’s risk. But it’s knowledge that your money is supporting something in line with your values. You will know exactly where it’s going to – a shopping cart ($200), for example.

Board member Crystal Brown spoke about this being a “great day,” that’s taken a lot of hard work and “persistence” to reach. “We so appreciate the owners who have stuck with us that long.” They feel that opening and expanding in phases is “more attainable.” It’s a “stairstep approach – if we can just get to the next step.”

If they can raise that $100,000, they can open – the first phase – in spring, focusing on “fresh produce – a real need in the community,” low operating costs, simple operating hours, relying heavily on volunteer power. It’ll be a gathering space for the community, and that’ll buy time as they raise capital for the next phase. “If we can be successful in (the first) phase, we feel we’ll be successful in the long haul.”

Volunteer coordinator Agen Schmitz reminded all that the committees need volunteers even before they get to the point of needing people to work in the stores. There’s a Saturday chat at Youngstown Coffee Company; they’ll be tabling outside the space three times a week in the months ahead. More events are planned to bring member-owners together. They could partner with other organizations – an attendee involved with West Seattle Meaningful Movies suggested they could promote a movie night (since WSMM itself is only doing movies quarterly this year).

What benefits do member-owners hope to get? asked board member Doris Rahmig. Discounts? A check at year’s end? “Just having the store open,” was the reply from multiple attendees. Added one: “I just feel happy that it’s happening.”

That was the prevailing sentiment.

Curtis observed, today was the first time in years that a DGC event didn’t include somebody asking “Are you guys really going to open?”

They are – what’s up to you is, what will that look like once the store is built out next spring?

HOW TO JOIN: You can sign up online – go here.

1 Reply to "DELRIDGE GROCERY: 'Happy that it's happening' - groundbreaking celebration, and what's ahead"

  • Jen November 3, 2019 (12:59 pm)

    Congratulations Delridge neighbors for your dedication and perseverance. This is really ten years in the making.  Si se puede!

Sorry, comment time is over.