Should I join the Park Slope Food Coop?

here are a few to read:

http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1641&highlight=park+slope+food+coop
http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5513&highlight=park+slope+food+coop

hehe :silent:

Subject: Join US! Join US!

It's all about being one big happy family in Park Slope.

This topic always starts civil war. Let's move on to something else before blood is shed.

It's the beets that make it all worthwhile.

yummmmmm, co-op
cheapest and freshest and best smelling grocery store in NYC

here's the product blog
http://www.psfc.blogspot.com/

pitu wrote: Reason to go to the Coop today: FRESH-CAUGHT WILD KING SALMON from Alaska for $16/lb
It came by FedEx. It's in huge pieces (5lbs) so have a party or freeze the extra.

(I just did my grocery shopping...)

:chef:

for a dollar more, you can g to Fish Tales and not have to buy in or work.

Fairway has great specials and no brain washing er working involved.

Most salmon available in supermarkets and restaurants is farmed, and is often labeled as Atlantic salmon - the primary species farmed. Wild Atlantic salmon is endangered in the U.S. and cannot be caught commercially. Farmed salmon is a "worst choice" since salmon farming causes a number of environmental problems and farmed salmon is often high in contaminants.

Wild salmon is usually available fresh during the summer months and may be labeled as wild, Alaskan, or one of five Pacific salmon species: chinook/king, coho/silver, chum/silverbrite, pink and sockeye. Alaskan salmon is wild (since there are no salmon farms in Alaska), comes from well-managed fisheries, and is low on contaminants.

yes. trout are part of the salmon family, but salmon trout are northern lake trout.

harry truman denied to his dying day any relation to the salmon trouts, but he had his reasons, didn't he?

dw438 wrote: [quote=pitu]yummmmmm, co-op
cheapest and freshest and best smelling grocery store in NYC

here's the product blog
http://www.psfc.blogspot.com/

Best smelling?
Lat time I was a guest there I shopped next to someone whose last bath may have been at Altamont.

ooooo smelly biker hippies at the coop!?
:roll:

The Coop one of the cleanest grocery stores in NYC, always gets high marks from the Dept of Health, and doesn't have the dreaded Grocery Store Smell. There is super high turnover, so stock rotates more than once a week and your groceries are fresh, not dusty.

Livetotravel wrote: Fairway - Red Hook - today - fresh wild Alaskan salmon - $15.99/lb

They've been reading this thread!

chinook/king, coho/silver, chum/silverbrite, pink and sockeye . . . which one?

Anyway, it's delicious and only available fresh caught for a few months . . .

Fairway isn't anywhere near my house, and I don't drive or take the bus for groceries so it's out of the question for me. Not to mention, I actually like the place, and haven't had any unpleasant experiences there . . .


Lots of hipster couples out recycling their yogurt containers this morning - it was very cool to see people bothering to do it. The Coop recycles #5 plastics, and a bunch of other stuff not on the city's recycling list. The yog containers get turned into the toothbrushes and picnicware by some company.
The recycling program is open to the neighborhood (it takes place in front of the store) - you have to bring those #5 plastics clean and dry on the days the recyling people are set up.

I choose not to put any of my physical or monetary capital towards supporting this place based on my experience visiting the store.

I walked in to the Coop when I was new to Park Slope. Not seeing any signs pointing non-members to an information desk I had to ask for help. I asked two people (I think they were employees, maybe they were "volunteers" or "shareholders" or whatever) where I could find out about becoming a member and they each accusingly asked me "HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?" Answer: through the door.

I finally get to the right person and she started right off with the angry 'HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?' riff. Every single person I spoke to there made me feel like I was in a police state. It was so oddly unwelcoming that I had to ask: "Are you actively trying to dissuade people from joining? Because that's what it feels like."

Whatever. The Coop is for idealists. It's cute that this relatively well-off and privileged neighborhood supports a little socialist experiment like this. It gives the neighborhood character. And I'm sure the 13,000 people who are members do have a stronger sense of community than I do... But then again, based on my visit and what I've heard about all of their rules, this community is a little too rigid for my taste.

So I gladly pay a slightly higher price at other stores for my groceries. Besides, if I did "pay my share" in manual labor I would actually be paying more than what I pay at other stores. It's a lose-lose-lose proposition to me.

PS -- mad props to LivetoTravels post of Aug 24, 2007 10:33 pm!!!

I think on another thread someone said the coop has so many members that they're hard-pressed to find work for everyone's shifts. So I was wondering, have they considered expanding to a second location? Surely 13000 people could support another branch in South Slope, or even PH.