When Growth Isn’t Good

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Here follows a lament. My neighborhood grocer, Linden Hills Co-op, recently announced that it’s relocating from the center of a vibrant urban village to the site of a failed supermarket on a busy thoroughfare nearly a mile away. I think the people who initiated the move, driven in large part by the co-op’s inability to negotiate a new lease with its current landlord, are well meaning. However, their overall approach depends on accepting the misguided maxim that growth is always good.

Linden Hills Co-op, one of the most successful natural foods stores in North America, is the heart and soul of its southwest Minneapolis neighborhood. It’s doing over $9.2 million a year in sales, has more than 5,200 member-owners, and every day brings through its doors more than a thousand customers, many of whom go on to shop at other local businesses. It was founded 34 years ago to serve as a neighborhood crossroads where high-quality food and amity converge, and it has fulfilled that mission profitably and sustainably.

The irony is that the controversy brewing around the move is a direct result of the co-op’s success. Once a labor of love and commitment, the community market thrived because of its modest size and generous character. Now most of the co-op’s managers, board, and staff live outside the immediate neighborhood, which helps explain why member-owners and neighbors were never consulted nor given an opportunity to vote on the proposed relocation. Many of us didn’t even know the move was being contemplated until after the board announced it had signed a lease.

In explaining the relocation, the member services manager wrote in the co-op’s bimonthly newsletter that the new site’s larger footprint will allow for “an expanded deli, new options in sustainable and local meat and seafood, and more offerings in grocery, fresh bakery, and frozen foods.” There’s also the promise of “10 to 12 new staff positions.”

It’s an alluring upgrade, especially in times of high unemployment, but in my estimation the benefits of growth are offset by the damage that will likely be done to surrounding merchants and Linden Hills’ storied spirit of camaraderie. The co-op’s slogan, proudly hanging in front of the store, declares that the space is “large enough to meet your needs and small enough to meet your neighbors.”

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