Happy Grand Opening, Food Shed Co-op!

On May 17th, Food Shed Co-op in Woodstock, IL celebrated its opening day with its 2,285+ owners and entire community. Yesterday’s celebration was a culmination of 11 years of community building, fundraising, and careful planning - and the community turned out in droves! Lines were all the way out to the street as people waited patiently to shop at their new co-op. We are thrilled for Food Shed’s owners, board, staff, and the entire Woodstock community. Congratulations!

FCI’s Program Director, JQ Hannah was on-site for the big event, and shared, “there is nothing like the energy of a startup food co-op’s opening day. It’s incredible every time, but what was unique at this opening is just how ready the store was. The store looked and felt like it had been open for years – everything was so well run!” The incredible Food Shed board, General Manager, and full team worked with National Cooperative Grocers to get through the final stretch of building their store from the inside out, and the results are beautiful! The staff were so welcoming, the shelves were stocks, the signage was up – and they were READY! 

FCI is honored to have supported Food Shed from their very beginning in 2013. They have long participated in the Up & Coming Conference and FCI Live - and have become important expert peer presenters for new startups as well. They have been a stalwart member of the Peer Learning Program, utilized our technical assistance and resources, and we had the pleasure of working with them in person in McHenry. We are so excited to celebrate their success and can’t wait to see what is to come. 

Top Image: a woman looks excitedly at a gorgeous display of mangoes and flowers with more produce in the background

Bottom Image: a line of eager co-op shoppers eagerly await to enter the co-op

Click here to opt-out of these types of communications.  Click here to unsubscribe from our newsletter.

www.fci.coop