Hudson Grocery Cooperative proposes opening a community owned grocery store in an attempt to bring many of these grocery dollars back home to Hudson. HGC will serve not only the Hudson community, but the surrounding communities as well.

In addition to proving groceries to the community, HGC will grow the local food market by providing consumers a consistent source for locally produced goods, encouraging nearby family farms and independent businesses to sell products close to home, and partnering with other local food-based businesses to source local products. We will provide area farmers, including those who sell direct at Hudson farmers markets, through Community Supported Agriculture, and/or by subscription, a secondary market to vend their products. Because our cooperative is focused more on creating a healthy and sustainable local foods system and less on generating the largest profit possible, we have the flexibility to purchase items from many small vendors rather than one large, cost-efficient outfit.

HGC is owned and run by the people who want to shop at the store. Each owner purchases four shares of stock in the cooperative, making a one-time investment of $80. Owners elect the Board of Directors annually to determine how the cooperative should be run. Owners provide significant input regarding how HGC can best serve the needs of its owners and the larger community. Some ideas already proposed include having a bakery, offering a commercial kitchen for rent or for classes, and partnering with farmers markets to co-host monthly winter farmers markets. The next two years will be spent building our owner base and listening to what the community wants out of a grocery co-op. By the time the doors to our store open, we hope to have well over 1000 owners – with a thousand voices participating in governance.