In September of 2025, Riverwest lost its eponymous food co-op on the corner of Clarke and Fratney. Covid had been the nail in the coffin to the Riverwest Co-op’s demise, yet its end could have been foreseen for several years.
“Out of 3000+ members,” said John Van Akkeren, the interim president at the closing of the Riverwest Co-op, “there were maybe 15 people there. Even at the terminal meeting to decide to dissolve the co-op, there were maybe 50 people.”
While Outpost, one of the country’s largest food co-ops, is thriving, seeing their highest active member owner numbers since they opened back in 1970. They are building out a 9,000 square foot industrial kitchen with 24,000 active member owners and over 350 employees.
The dichotomy of the two stories poses an interesting look at the state of food co-ops in Milwaukee. In the increasingly consolidated grocery marketplace, single brick and mortar food co-ops are left unsupported and belly up. That consolidation is ripping the veil off Big Agriculture’s sinister scheme, waking people up to the detriment of industrial agriculture on our land and communities, fostering a desire for better, more nutritious, more wholesome Earth-first options to feed families.
Read the rest at Shepherd Express
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