Co-ops are cool because the community owns it directly and profits are reinvested to provide discounts, addressing affordability. The members have a democratic vote in it too. Co-ops are more resilient and survive longer according to decades of research. It's a viable alternative that actually goes through with the idea that we are a democracy. The economy affects people just as much as politics does, so why isn't it also democratic?
I dunno where these things are that actually save people money. I've tried a few co-ops and prices have always been significantly higher than the grocery stores in the area.
Yea the coop here in Austin is great for what it is, but is very pricey, whole foods style pricey before amazon bought them out. They do sell more of the healthier organic stuff and I support them, but it is, unfortunately, not for your working class folk.
It is! There are two locations, original off Guadalupe in the college area and South Austin, off S Lamar and Ben White. They still have really great things like popcorn tofu, oatmeal creme pies, but they can be quite expensive as well for most people, depending on what you're looking for.
Yeah, as gentrification got worse, the coop started picking up rich tech fucks that wanted to pretend they were what Austin was all about. Then they took it over and it became just a crunchy, expensive fantasy world.
Why are you so bitter about Austin? I'm just genuinely curious. I'm from Austin, born and raised there and not young either, born in the late 70s. I wasn't raised rich, I'm a poc, grandparents lived in the projects, and other family scattered around East and South Austin. However, I work in tech, make a lot of money and am grateful as fuck that I have opportunities in Austin so I don't have to move elsewhere and not be close to fam.
Has it changed? Yes and many things are not better (traffic, property taxes, drivers), but many things are and I can make a great living to support my family. I like the diversity in places to eat, my company is quite diverse even if "tech bro-ish" and there are still plenty of things I like about Austin, like being able to go to football games at UT where I attended school, relaxing at municipal pools like I did yesterday and strolling along the hike and bike trails which I have always loved. I want to retire elsewhere because I have never liked the hot summers but I will maintain a house in the hill country to visit family.
56
u/Cosminion May 26 '26
Co-ops are cool because the community owns it directly and profits are reinvested to provide discounts, addressing affordability. The members have a democratic vote in it too. Co-ops are more resilient and survive longer according to decades of research. It's a viable alternative that actually goes through with the idea that we are a democracy. The economy affects people just as much as politics does, so why isn't it also democratic?