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| Employee Eric Kendall stocks shelves at the Lexington Co-Op |
The Lexington Cooperative Market
has been in the Elmwood Village for more than 40 years, in about six months it will be expanding and opening a second
location at 1678 Hertel Ave.
Tim Bartlett, general manager of
the co-op Stressed that the
success of the Elmwood location has played a big part in opening a second
location.
“We opened for business in 1971
over on Lexington Avenue and we moved to Elmwood in 2005, and the success of
the store has been phenomenal,” Bartlett said.
Over the years the co-op has grown from bringing in $2 million in
sales at the Lexington location, to currently bringing in over $12 million in
sales and serving more than 11,000 customers a week at the Elmwood location.
“I think the co-op has really grown into being both a natural
food store and a convenience store for the neighborhood,” Bartlett said.
Individuals can become members by buying a share for an $80 one-time fee.
Since there is not a single owner
that will guarantee a loan, the owners have through a capital campaign
raised $2 million in unsecured money to get the Hertel Avenue project going.
The co-op employs 85 people and expects to employ 50 to 60 more with the opening of the
Hertel location. The new location will be based on
the same model as the current store, but will be twice the size and offer
full-service meat and seafood. The current goal is to open in June 2016. By Troy Licastro and Tony Reyes
