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The Fresh Start Grocery in Geraldine.
Turner's cooperative opened its doors in 2014 and
Geraldine, in 2017. Neihart started operating as a co-op
last June, taking over from previous owners who had
saved the store after closure some years earlier but wanted
to retire after eleven years.
The second challenge for all three cooperatives has
been buying and upgrading the building. Individuals
have given their time and materials to renovate old
buildings. All three structures continue to be maintained
and improved.
The third major challenge continues to linger. The
Montana Cooperative Development Center has set out
to assist the stores with distribution. Unless a certain
minimum amount is ordered, which is far beyond what
the co-op stores need at one time, distributors find it
uneconomical to make deliveries. This is a problem in
When volunteers were working on the Big Flat Grocery Store
building, Van Voast and her twin daughters would take them lunch.
Photo by Shannon Van Voast
Turner's Big Flat Grocery Store. Photo Shannon Van Voast
Inventory of the Fresh Start Grocery. Photo Guy Gregory
of Montana Cooperative Development Center
