About
An Ethical Grocery Store Founded and Operated by Tacomans
Our mission as a Food Co-op in Tacoma is to provide access to sustainable food and goods, to promote equity, and to support the well-being of our community and region.
Grit City Co-op is a community driven initiative to open and operate a grocery store in the Hilltop/Central area of Tacoma so that everyone has access to sustainable food at a fair price, while providing a living wage to workers and growing the local food system. We will facilitate conversations around where our food comes from, who produces it, and how it nourishes us.
Our goal is to open December 2023, and to highlight and host many wonderful gatherings before then. Tune in to our website, Facebook, or our Instagram to stay in touch, and remember we need you as a member to make this a reality!
Our Progress
Below you will find a simplified timeline of completed and expected upcoming work in order to open the store December 2023.
2022 Letter of intent signed with Koz Development LLC. for 3,000 square feet at 824 M.L.K. Jr. Way
October 2022 Members vote to proceed with market study and financial feasibility study
January 2023 Market study is completed
February/March 2023 Financial feasibility study draw up and contracted
May 5 2023 Initial review of financial feasibility study
May 2023 Draw up contract for preferred shares campaign
June 2023 Launch preferred shares campaign
June 2023 Sign official lease with Koz Development LLC.
June 2023 Establish Permits
July/August 2023 Build-out with contractor, equipment procurement and installation
September 2023 Hire store manager
October 2023 Store set up with equipment installation
November 2023 Point of sale installed and hire cashier/stockers
December 2023 Store Opens
Membership
Thank you for your interest in becoming a part of this exciting adventure! All memberships are lifetime, so you’ll never need to renew.
You may join by writing a check made payable to “Grit City Co-op” in the amount of $100, and mailing it to PO BOX 2332, Tacoma, WA 98401. Or, you may use our convenient online payment portal right here.
If you choose to pay online, you’ll be offered 3 options:
Lifetime Membership -- No Service Fee: A one-time payment of $100
Lifetime Membership -- opt to offset the $3 Service Fee included: Our payment processor assesses $3 from every online transaction. In order to spare us this extra expense when paying online, you may choose to contribute the $3 service fee and have it added to your total at checkout.
Payment Plan -- You can also pay online in 4 annual installments of $25 each.
Once your payment is processed, you will receive a confirmation email with your membership number by email at the address you provided. When we reach 500 members, you will also receive your permanent member card at the mailing address you provide. If you are paying in installments, this card will be sent after the final installment is processed.
Refunds/cancellations:
You may request a full refund of any payments made, less any service fees, at any point after one year from your latest payment, OR within 90 days of the co-op’s official opening, whichever comes first. All other refund requests will be approved by the board. The official opening will be announced on this website, on Facebook, and in our newsletter.
Refunds/cancellations can be made via email to gritcitycoop@gmail.com.
Use of funds:
All monies collected prior to the official opening of the co-op will be held in an account at BECU until a total of $50,000 is reached. This amount will trigger our official opening, and will be spent as follows:
Deposit on lease
Insurance
Permits
Equipment
Inventory
All spending decisions prior to the official opening will be voted on by the board. Anyone is welcome to attend board meetings, but only board members may vote. Board meetings are held on the first and third Thursdays of the month from 6:30-8:30pm.
You may request a copy of the minutes from any Grit City Co-op board meeting by emailing us at gritcitycoop@gmail.com
Goal progress:
Any time you wish to see how close we’re getting to our 500 member goal, you can always check the graph below.
If you have any membership/financial questions that aren’t answered here, please feel free to contact us at gritcitycoop@gmail.com.
Membership
CONTACT
CONTACT US
gritcitycoop@gmail.com
Grit City Co-op
PO BOX 2332
Tacoma, WA 98401
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Become a vendor
We are committed to supplying fresh, local quality food to our community at a reasonable price. We will stock our shelves with the best stuff local producers have to offer. If your goods fit that description fill out the contact form below!
Buzzwords like local, quality, and fresh doesn’t have to mean expensive. We plan on cutting costs by focusing on producers as close to Tacoma as possible. Local also means lower shipping and fuel costs and we plan on passing along those savings to our members.
Let us sell your stuff!
Tell us about your product, what is it that you make/grow? Where do you spend most of your time? If you have a website please include a link so we can check you out. We expect to open up a brick-and-mortar space in the next year and would love to meet with producers soon to discuss expectations. Fill out this form and we’ll be in touch soon!