You don't want to deal with big business, or it won't come to your town. And you don't have the money or ability to open a small business, so what then?
The cooperative model works in all kinds of businesses, where groups of people own pieces of a business that a community needs or wants, like a grocery store. The Ashland Food Co-op is a thriving example. It and other co-ops get guidance from the Northwest Cooperative Development Center, based in Olympia.
Annie Hoy, retired as Marketing Manager at the Ashland Food Co-op, is our guide to the workings of NWCDC and the larger story of how co-ops work, and what they need to work.