Yesenia Ochoa grew up just five blocks away from Rainbow Grocery. She remembers it as “the weird store” of her childhood; the place where her family could always find flor de jamaica and other hard-to-source ingredients.
Today, Ochoa works there. She considers the San Francisco co-op a “community center without being a community center.” Every day she runs into people from her past: Former teachers, a childhood principal.
In a city shaped by constant reinvention, Rainbow Grocery Cooperative stands as a rare constant. It has not only survived but thrived with its radical, worker-owned model intact. As it approaches its 50th anniversary, the co-op is planning a public block party Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, from noon to 6 p.m.
Read the rest at Mission Local
Add new comment