Why the Main Market Co-op Should Ask the Rocket Bakery to Run the Market

Last year the Main Market Food Co-op in Spokane opened with great fan fare as the flagship enterprise of Spokane's burgeoning local food movement. The old Goodyear building was converted into a state of the art retail food facility, a large staff was assembled, funds were donated, memberships were subscribed, and a top notch group of community leaders were recruited to serve on the board. Thursday, four months after cutting the ribbon, the Spokesman Review business section announced that the co-op is regrouping;

After its January launch, Spokane’s only full-service food co-op is revisiting its business strategy and trying to win new customers. Main Market Cooperative in downtown has slashed prices, started searching for a new general manager and expanded its deli selections, and it hopes to mount a marketing campaign to get the attention of shoppers.

Its interim general manager, Jeanette Hamilton, said there’s no chance the co-op, at 44 West Main, will close. She’s convinced the store will succeed. “But the most successful co-ops take time. It doesn’t happen in the first two years,” Hamilton said.

I'm reading between the lines here, but it sounds like sales at the market have been poor and that the business model is not working. The article mentions that along with lowering prices, they plan to hire a marketing firm to raise the visibility of the co-op and do a national search for a new manager as ways to right the ship.

As a local food advocate and someone who would love to see the market succeed, I'd like to offer a humble proposal; Don't bother with a fancy marketing firm and executive search that are just going to dig a deeper hole in the short term, and are questionable solutions in the long term. Instead, set up a meeting with the folks at the Rocket Bakery/Rocket Market and beg them to come in and run the business side of the co-op.

Before I proceed, let me put my cards on the table. I am friends with the outgoing manager of the co-op and hold her in high regard and I know folks on the co-op board. I am also friends with Jeff and Julia who own and operate the Rocket Bakery and, in partnership with Alan & Shanda Shephard, own and run the Rocket Market. I don't have a membership at the co-op and my only business tie to the folks at the Rocket is that I spend a small fortune on their scones and coffee.

The only example of a successful retail food outlet in Spokane (that I'm aware of) that has figured out how to buy from local farmers and make money while doing it is the Rocket Market. Huckleberries has some offerings around the fringes but is mostly a send up of Whole Foods Market. Fresh Abundance makes a good effort but my sense is that they aspire to be a cultural movement and that the business model is secondary. (I'd be glad to be challenged on either assumption.)

Since 1999 the Rocket Market has been sorting out a unique business model in a converted gas station that, as they say, has "more food per square foot than any store this side of New York City." And it's true. I've only been there once, but the place is packed with interesting food and drink items, and much of it is sourced locally. They have four local egg vendors, heirloom tomatoes from Sand Point, ID, and a bunch of other quirky stuff that only they stock and sell. They've had over 10 years incubating this business model in Spokane and are better equipped than any expert from out of town to flesh out what could work at the Main Market location. It's worth mentioning that several of the expert staff brought on to run the co-op were from the Rocket Market.

If I were on the board of the co-op, I would contract with the folks at the Rocket to run the business side of things. Let them experiment and put their hard earned Spokane sensibilities to work. They've already turned one auto related location into a thriving business, how about giving them a shot at doing it again at the old site of Goodyear tire. That arrangement would free the board up to pursue the important education and community engagement initiatives that they are having to set aside in the midst of the business crisis.

I hope the folks advocating for the Spokane Public Market are taking note of what's going on with the co-op. Without a viable business model the Public Market concept is not going to work.

Comments

[nancy goodwin]

Craig, in your opinion what is it that has made Jeff and Julia's business model work as opposed to the Main Market's? What's the core ingredient?

[Mark Mayers]

Dear Craig, This is Mark from One World. I think we have to re- think what it is our community needs. We have plenty of Rocket Bakeries etc. What I feel we need is a BULK FOOD store for Eastern Wa. and No. Idaho. No frills. I know people would drive distances if we had a store that you could plan your meals and life style around. If the coop was mine I would clear out all the processed organic snack foods and make the entire store Bulk Foods. Point is we don't have a store dedicated to this yet. I am looking into it.

[craig]

Thanks for chiming in Mark. I agree that we don't need another Rocket Bakery, but I think we could use another place like the Rocket Market, with a better location and more room for products. I'm most interested in the local angle - and my main point is that the folks at the Rocket have been sourcing local for longer and arguably more successfully than others so they might be good partners in helping Spokane realize the dream of a co-op.

[Gary M Angell]

Why does Spokane need another deli? What's really needed is a place to process and sell local fresh meats. We have no market for this in Spokane. If they can't figure how to do it, lease the kitchen to someone like Jeremy Hansen at Sante' who knows what to do with fresh local meat.

[Rachel]

I think something that would help is adjusting their hours. Being downtown, they have the potential to attract a lot of people that work downtown. I have wanted to go in several times on my way to work, but they don't open until late, like 10 or something. So, instead, I end up making an emergency run to Rite Aid, or just picking up things during my normal grocery run and toting them along with me to work the next day.
They really should be open before and after work, and for lunch of course.

Slashing prices also makes it much more attractive to me. It was the most expensive store in town, so I still usually chose Fresh Abundance, or even Huckleberries in a pinch (Rocket Market is too far away for me, and unfortunately I have yet to make a visit). It would be less expensive if I became a member, but I can't afford their sky-high membership rates (another reason I chose Fresh Abundance).

[nancy goodwin]

I agree, Rachel. When I saw the cost of membership my immediate thought was, "oh, this is for rich people."

[John Speare]

Wow. I'm coming really late to this -- but I agree on your proposal. What the Shepards have done up at the Rocket Market is amazing.

@nancy: I think it's the Shepards that made the Rocekt Market fly. Their passion is obvious -- the produce/eggs up there are always *always* best in class.

I have friends that have worked there and still work up there: it's no accident that the produce is the best in town. They're very serious about demanding quality and are not shy about sending tier 2 produce back.

And apparently, they've also managed to cut out a large local produce middle-man by getting large distributors to deliver straight to their store.

I agree too with Mark that bulk food would be a great thing, though Huckleberries ain't so bad in that deptartment. I just wonder if bulk foods alone could sustain a spot like the Main Market, which has got to have a fair amount of debt into the build-out. I think they need to draw the consumers that are looking for high-end, organic processed stuff and deli food to service rent/debt.

Finally: I'm with you too Rachel. I've been burned a couple times stopping on the Main Market on the way to work to pick up lunch -- opens at 10. Seems crazy.

I loved it when Fresh Abundance was up in our neighborhood and really miss them. I agree with your assessement though: the business of running a retail food store seemed to take back seat to many other (worthy) projects.