What makes Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op different from a “regular” grocery store?
Imagine telling a major grocery store chain you’d like to sit in on their board meetings. Imagine submitting to them your application for board candidacy so you can help to determine the future of the company. Imagine telling them you’d like their profits to return to the store – not the elite circle of investors – so that they can continue to grow the services they offer their patrons. Imagine requesting that they return some of their profits to you. Then imagine them telling you to go down to the Co-op. While many conventional grocery stores now feature “natural” sections, the Co-op is the Roanoke Valley’s trusted source for natural and organic foods, and has been since the early 1970s. One of the major distinguishing factors of the Co-op is that it is a locally founded, owned, and operated business – run by a management staff, and governed by a democratically elected board of directors that the membership chooses. The Co-op operates from a mission statement, and the internationally
