Green Fields Market Offers Opportunity for Local Investment

GREENFIELD — Since its start as a buying club in Montague in 1977, the Franklin Community Co-op (FCC) has a history of growth and change. As a local, community-owned institution, it is committed to meeting the evolving needs of the community while also responding to a continually changing grocery industry.

Last fall, Franklin Community Co-op announced the signing of the purchase and sale to relocate Green Fields Market to the historic Wilson’s Building. This project will bring life to the building, vacant since 2019, with the food co-op on the first floor and basement, and mixed-income housing in the upper floors.

The new store will provide a larger, more accessible, and efficient space, more than doubling the sales floor, reducing prices, and setting the co-op up for more growth and service to the community in the future. Part of the relocation plan gives members the opportunity to invest in the co-op as part of its overall financing plan. This means Franklin Community Co-op is accepting loans from members, putting more money back into the community rather than paying interest to a bank.

“The co-op embodies all the reasons why I chose to raise a family in Franklin County,” said KC Ceccarossi, FCC board of directors vice president. “It’s a community space committed to local agriculture, to healthy food, to the local economy, and to real human connection. I am investing in the co-op because it’s so precious. We’ll get to say we have a full-service, locally owned grocery store on Main Street. How many other cities can claim that?”

The co-op is in the process of raising a minimum of $1 million with a total goal of $1.5 million in loans, with a potential interest rate as high as 4%.

“These member loan programs are widely used by food co-ops all over the country,” said Ben Sandel, a consultant who works on these programs with cooperatives across the U.S. “Member and community financing is great for people who want to keep their money close to home and working in something they believe in.”

The minimum loan amount is $2,000, with a goal of reaching $1.5 million by the end of June. For more information about the campaign or Franklin Community Co-op, email Peter Garbus, capital campaign lead, at capitalcampaigninfo@franklincommunity.coop.