National Co+op Grocers adds 3 new grocery stores to its member list

National Co op Grocers (NCG) is growing.

Three new grocery store members have been added by the group's board, expanding NCG to 151 member co-ops, the group said Tuesday. The new members are: SHARE Cooperative, Potsdam Consumer Co-op and South Philly Food Co-op.

NCG, a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the country, now operates more than 200 stores in 38 states with combined annual sales of nearly $2.4 billion. NCG provides the capacity of a chain grocer while maintaining the autonomy of each individual co-op.

SHARE Cooperative, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, began in the spring of 2015 as a faith-based response to increase access to healthy food for low-income residents. The co-op was incorporated in 2018 and is planning to open a grocery store, which will be called Harvest Market, later this month.

Potsdam Co-op, based in Potsdam, New York, opened its first retail store in 1973, Potsdam Consumer Co-op. The co-op offers local foods from more than 75 vendors and has more than 1,100 member-owners.

South Philly Food Co-op, based in Philadelphia, opened its store in December 2020. The co-op serves as a hub for the South Philly community. 

“We’re excited to have these three co-ops join NCG, as they proudly represent key moments in the retail food co-op movement in the United States,” said C.E. Pugh, NCG CEO, in a statement. “Potsdam Consumer Co-op has endeavored for half a century, born out of desire to access natural and organic foods, while SHARE Co-op and South Philly Food Co-op are more recent, created by community-minded residents to support their cherished neighborhoods. We welcome these co-ops to NCG and look forward to continued collaboration.”