Common Market Food Co-op

Posted on January 11, 2010 by ,

Common Market Food Co-op, Denver, CO
Common Market Food Co-op was a “new wave food co-op” located at 1329 California Street in Denver, Colorado, from 1975 – 1980.   It started as a buying club at the University of Denver in the early 1970s, and for a few years prior to moving to the old Safeway at 13th and California Streets, Common Market operated out of a small storefront at 1100 Champa Street.

If you are looking for The Common Market in Frederick, Maryland, it is here: www.commonmarket.coop

Please contact your friends and family who were members of Common Market in Denver and let them know about the reunion and this web site. Thanks!

Reunion 2010

The 2010 Reunion was a lot of fun and we’ll do it again in a few years!

Information about the 2010 Reunion appears below.

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The Ad Hoc Reunion Committee has picked August 6-8, 2010, for the next Reunion for all members, staff, and board of the Common Market Food Coop of Denver.

  • Friday, August 6, 2010, evening: Informal get together in Denver, at My Brother’s Bar, 2376 15th St, Denver, CO, starting around 6 pm.
    (The PIC-NITs will have a top-secret (shhhhh, don’t tell ANYONE) meeting at My Brother’s Bar on Friday, August 6, 2010, from 6:18 – 6:21 pm to review the super-secret handshake, induct new members, approve the minutes from the last meeting in 1978, see what the heck happened to their demand for the 5-foot section of canned boiled potatoes in Aisle 5, and collect long-past-due dues. Oh, and whatever other business may come before the assembled. But don’t tell anyone….)
  • Saturday, August 7, 2010, 7 pm: Dinner and party at the Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street, Denver, CO. the menu is vegetarian with a $10-$15 range per ample entree. Please RSVP to Sue Culig by July 25: sueculig -at- msn.com
  • If you are interested in a hike on Saturday (August 7th) or Sunday (August 8th) afternoon, either a close-in mountain hike or a walk/mall shuttle ride downtown and near the creek to see how things have changed, please let Sue know in the same reply email, also stating your afternoon of preference.

And keep watching this space!

If you would like to help out or participate, please contact us via email:  commonmarketfood@gmail.com
You can also contact Skip Hibbard at 720-202-1412.

Previous planning meetings were held:
April 28, 2010, at Hanson’s Grill and Tavern, 1301 South Pearl Street, Denver, CO, 303-744-0210.

March 22, 2010, at My Brother’s Bar, 2376 15th St, Denver, CO.

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DU Buying Club 1970/1971

Posted on March 6, 2010 by ,

Larry Hotz wrote:

1100 Champa was the first downtown storefront. Although it operated as a once a week distribution center at first and later as a store. The first storefront distribution center for once a week ordering was in the 800 South Block of Pearl Street near to Judd Insurance and what is now Listen Up. Orders were taken the student union at DU for both locations.

It was 1970 or 1971 when we first organized the coop in Diana and Joe LaRocco’s living room.

I am still in touch with Michelle Holland who had something to do with Wheatsville back around 1975.

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Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley (1939-1988)

Posted on February 12, 2010 by ,

From wikipedia:

Consumers’ Cooperative of Berkeley (CCB, also known as Berkeley Co-op) was a consumers’ cooperative which operated from 1939 to 1988, when it collapsed due to internal governance issues and bankruptcy. During its height, it was the largest cooperative of its kind in North America, with over 100,000 members, and its collapse has provoked intellectual discussion over how food cooperatives should be operated.

More:

  • What Happened to the Berkeley Co-op?, 1992 (128-page PDF)
  • “Berkeley: Lessons for Co-op Leaders,” Cooperative Grocer, January-February 1992
  • “Berkeley Journal; Who’ll Sell Tofu Puffs After Co-ops Are Gone?” by Katherine Bishop, The New York Times, June 6, 1988
  • Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union was chartered April 20, 1942 to serve the employees and members of the Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley, Inc.
    • Posted in Other Cooperatives | Comments Off

    A written history of Common Market, September 1976

    Posted on February 8, 2010 by ,

    This is a 43-page PDF of “A Descriptive Study of Common Market Cooperative, Inc.” written by Jonathan Klein, Coordinator of the North American Student Cooperative Organization, Ann Arbor, MI, September 24, 1976.

    This is a large file (43 pages, 2MB) and requires Adobe Acrobat or a PDF reader to open:
    A Descriptive Study of Common Market Cooperative, Inc.

    Posted in Common Market History | Comments Off

    Photos from previous reunion

    Posted on February 8, 2010 by ,

    Some photos from the last Common Market reunion, sent by Larry.

    Larry Hotz and Howard Kenison

    Larry Hotz and Howard Kenison

    Michael Klahr and Ann Knobel

    Michael Klahr and Ann Knobel

    Diana Davis and Bettina

    Diana Davis and Bettina

    Kathy DePoala and Bruce Davis

    Kathy DePoala and Bruce Davis

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    A few Common Market Staff, February 1975

    Posted on January 14, 2010 by ,

    Common Market Staff ca. 1975

    This photo is from February, 1975, taken in front of the store at 1329 California Street in downtown Denver (now the site of the Denver Convention Center).  As best we can recall, this is who is in it, from left to right:

    top: Ruth ____, Leslie Glickman, Lynn Washburn, Hal Young, Sophia Lo, Larry Hotz, Deb Hartman, Skip Hibbard, Warren Welter
    bottom: Don McCullough, Kathie DePoala

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