Powderhorn Food Community Co-op (Minneapolis, Minn.).

In early 1972, a group of 21 and 22 year olds formed a political commune with the intention of doing social change community organizing in the working class area of south Minneapolis. There were 5 women and 4 men. Half of the group had met in Catholic high schools in the East Metro, the remainder had met in college urban studies programs in Chicago and Minneapolis.

They decided to begin by organizing a food store in the area south of Lake Street. Community meetings were held in the basement of Walker Church and the basic model of the store was hammered out. It was organized as a Minnesota nonprofit corporation “to promote the health and welfare of the community served and the populace at large through the sale and distribution of wholesome, natural and whole grain foods in an ecologically sound manner permitting the highest degree of customer self-control over quality and content of basic nutrition” (Powderhorn Food Community, Inc. Articles of Incorporation, February 23, 1972. Minnesota Secretary of State File J-984).

The original board included three women from the commune and two people from the neighborhood. The store opened in May of 1972 on a shoestring budget. Initial funds were raised from promissory notes sold in the neighborhood. The commune members loaned half the money and performed almost all of the remodeling and installation of the equipment in a rented storefront at 3440 Bloomington Ave South.

Although called a co-op, the store was not structured as a consumer owned cooperative. It was a nonprofit corporation run completely by volunteers, first primarily the commune members, then gradually incorporating most of the shoppers. There were no paid staff for the first three years. Goods were marked up 10% of cost for seniors and store volunteer workers and 30% for all others.

Management of the store was organized by work groups who covered their specific tasks. There were 7 storekeeper groups, one for each day of the week. There were cheese cutter, bookkeeping, and produce purchasing, maintenance and stocking groups. All told about 200 people were active in running the store.

Decision-making in the store was cumbersome but effective as store-wide decisions had to be considered in each work group's monthly planning meeting. Store operational management decisions, on the other hand, were easily handled by the responsible work group. The result was a robust community store with many stakeholders.

The commune dispersed after a year. By then, Powderhorn Food Community was viable and functioning on its own. Most of the commune members continued participating and working in the store. Some went on to form the Women's Union, others worked on a plan for a Southside community bank and cooperative housing. By late 1974, some had joined the nascent Coop Organization (CO), while others rejected both it and the alternative anarchist formations, opting for a third way. Powderhorn Food Community membership did not take a position supporting the CO. Nor did it join the boycott of the People's Warehouse after it was taken over by the CO in May of 1975. In the summer of 1975, with the original core group tied up in other projects, Powderhorn hired its first coordinator. A membership election was held to replace the placeholder board created at the founding. This new board was sympathetic to CO as was the coordinator.

In 1976, non-CO co-op members staged a break in of the store, changed the locks, and installed a new cash register; effectively negating the CO's control of the store.

During the early 1980s, when many co-ops around Minnesota closed or restructured due to the economic recession, Powderhorn's board chose to restructure the store along traditional management lines; no longer was the store collectively run. A general manager, who was given nearly complete control of the store, was hired. The co-op operated for nearly ten years with a top-down decision making process. In 1985 the co-op remodeled and expanded its building using a loan from the Minneapolis Community Development Agency (MCDA) and took a second mortgage on the building and land through the North Country Development Fund (NCDF) shortly after. In March 1992 the co-op returned to collective management in an effort to get itself out of financial difficulties and reintegrate itself in the community. By the time the store returned to collective management it had outstanding debt of $40,000 to MCDA and NCDF plus $8,000 in back taxes. When the financial accounts were reconciled, the collective uncovered an additional $39,000 of debt to vendors.

The co-op's difficulties were compounded by a number of factors. Poor management, little community or volunteer involvement, lack of a well-defined money management system, and a decline in the neighborhood all combined to push Powderhorn towards closing. During 1992 the storefront was robbed more than six times. Because of the long running debt to vendors the co-op was refused credit and could not buy goods unless cash was paid at delivery. At the time when the co-op was trying to give itself a stronger presence in the community, raise funds, and increase membership to pay down its debt it had nearly empty shelves because it could not afford merchandise. Additionally, Bloomington Avenue, which the storefront faced, underwent major road construction that blocked the store entrance and parking during the summer and fall of 1992.

Powderhorn's leadership during its last three years tried hard to keep the co-op afloat. They sketched out a plan to repay the taxes over a three year period, diversify the food products to include popular processed foods, fund raise, work with MCDA to refinance the debt, and set a sales target of $9,000 weekly in order to meet expenses. In cooperation with North Country Co-op (Minneapolis), Powderhorn Co-op was able to place small orders with vendors. Other community cooperatives tried to help as well; the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater and Riverside Cafe held benefit events to raise money. The co-op wanted to be committed to the neighborhood, which was already one of Minneapolis' most blighted neighborhoods. By 1993 the neighborhood had already lost three of its chain grocery stores. The co-op's leaders recognized that the community needed the co-op as much as the co-op needed neighborhood involvement. In the end, Powderhorn's plan could not be carried out; in summer 1994 sales were 82% of the previous year's and they could not meet their expenses. In December 1994 the Powderhorn Food Community Co-op ceased operations.

This historical sketch was a collaborative effort with information supplied by Mark Sherman, a founding member of the Powderhorn Food Community.

From the guide to the Records., 1974-1995., (Minnesota Historical Society)