Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Los Alamos need a new food market?

What is a cooperative?

How do co-ops help build sustainable communities?

Will I need to be a member to shop at the LA Co-op?

What types of memberships are available?

Will members have to or be able to work in the store?

Why does Los Alamos need a new food market?

Every week, many Los Alamos and White Rock residents travel to Santa Fe and beyond to shop at alternative food stores such as Whole Foods or Wild Oats. This costs residents time and gasoline, and takes business and GRT out of our community.

Los Alamos has a weekly Farmers Market during the summer and less frequently during the winter, but eating well is a year-around commitment. The LA Co-op will source as much produce and as many products locally as possible, and hopes to complement, not compete with, the Los Alamos Farmers Market.

Los Alamos also supports a number of "truck co-ops" that offer natural foods. These require their members to plan ahead, to pick up their orders at a certain time, and to store more than is convenient for many people. They also offer little fresh produce and no locally-sourced products. However, these truck co-ops will almost certainly continue to exist in Los Alamos, supported by those who are able to use their services. Some natural food market co-ops, such as the Dixon Cooperative Market, incorporate similar "buying clubs" as part of their market.

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What is a co-operative?

A cooperative is a business owned and democratically controlled by the people who use its services and whose benefits are derived and distributed equitably on the basis of use. It is a state-chartered business (called a "domestic cooperative" in New Mexico law) with much in common with other types of businesses: it has similar facilities, provides similar functions and following sound business practices. However, a cooperative also has some distinguishing features, including

• Purpose: Cooperatives are formed to provide their owners (who are called "members") with services or supplies, obtained by their acting together to attain economies of scale and exert bargaining power.


• Ownership and control: Equity comes from the members rather than from outside investors. Members control the activities of the cooperative by direct vote and through the elected directors, who are responsible to the members. Each member gets one vote. Most or all of the directors are required to be members of the cooperative.


• Distribution of benefits: Members benefit from services in proportion to the use they make of them. They share earnings (i.e., generated margins from efficient operations and added value) in proportion to their use of the cooperative.

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How do co-ops help build sustainable communities?

(Extracted from the Cooperative Life website.)

Cooperatives help build sustainable communities on three levels: economic, environmental and social.

Economic Sustainability: Communities have a strong, sustainable economic life when money and resources are retained within the community. Cooperatives help increase a community's resources because they are often locally owned and controlled. Jobs, profits, and resources stay in the community longer because the cooperative members who control the cooperative are community members.

Environmental Sustainability: Many cooperatives are dedicated to moving toward a future that ensures generations to come a healthy stock of environmental and natural resource assets. Some co-ops are dedicated to helping individuals adopt more responsible patterns of consumption, thereby consuming fewer resources. Others are supporting practices that return value to our environmental resources. Examples include energy, food and agricultural cooperatives.

Social Sustainability: Cooperatives help to build the skills of democracy and conflict resolution. When cooperative members work together to own and control their cooperative using the democratic process, they learn how to clearly state what they believe, how to listen carefully to the ideas and needs of others, how to build consensus on the best direction to pursue, and how to get the most important things done.

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Will I need to be a member to shop at the LA Co-op?

No. Members will be able to participate in the governance of the cooperative and enjoy member discounts. However, the store will be open to all shoppers.

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What types of memberships are available?

Currently, we are accepting founding lifetime members who are helping to capitalize the new venture and charter annual members whose non-refundable one-year membership will extend one year after the store opens. Both types of members will be able to participate in the governance of the cooperative (e.g., in the election of the first board of directors and the approval of the bylaws) from the date of joining.

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Will members have to or be able to work in the store?

No. New Mexico law makes it almost impossible to use volunteers to substitute for or supplement paid employees in the store. However, there will be a number of ways that volunteers can support the Co-op, such as volunteering to serve on the board or a committee or shopping for home-bound individuals and delivering their groceries. We expect also to be able to recognize other types of volunteer work that keep our community clean and functioning, such as helping to pick up trash or staffing the blood mobile. Such volunteer work will be entirely optional and will be recognized by store discounts.

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