Imagine a place where everything is made locally (from pears to pickles, sweaters to soap), where you could shop at a convenient year-round location featuring many producers and pay at a single checkout — a new “All Things Local” store in downtown Amherst.
To explore this idea we are convening community discussions at Town Hall: first a learning session, followed by a planning session. All are invited, please help spread the word (flyer attached below).
We will begin by learning from a successful model of a producer/consumer cooperative in Ohio called “Local Roots” (localrootswooster.com/). The core idea is to create a resilient local community market by employing a model with lower costs (because of significant contributions from volunteers who care about the mission) and shared-risk (items are sold on consignment, rather than taking on debt to stock inventory). The store’s design makes it
Easy for buyers to buy:
Convenient location and hours
Year-round and indoors
Ability to pick-and-choose among many local producers
Single checkout, with all the usual payment options
Easy for producers to sell:
Producers set their own price
90% of the selling price goes back to the producer where it belongs (no brokers or middle-men)
fast drop off
don’t have to be onsite (lower staffing costs)
online pre-sale bulk orders
We are particularly interested in this as a cooperative venture that supports local livelihoods and community investment. Please come if you can, and help spread the word.
Yours in cooperation,
The “All Things Local” Working Group
Bernard Brennan
Tina Clark
John Gerber
Emily Stephens
John White
Share these events:
Learning session: www.facebook.com/events/412325108789037/
Planning session: www.facebook.com/events/380079648705666/
Flyers:
Local Roots flyer
