Detroit People’s Food Co-op seeks $155,000 emergency fund to keep North End grocery open

Detroit People’s Food Co-op, the city’s first Black-led full-scale grocery store, began a three-part fundraising campaign this month to raise $155,000 to address cash-flow problems.

The 15,000-square-foot community-owned store on Woodward Avenue in the North End opened in early 2024 and records about $3 million in annual sales. Its leaders say food inflation, management turnover and confusion over the cooperative model have hurt operations.

Malik Yakini, who has helped lead the project, said the co-op is asking the public for support to stabilize the store. The fundraising effort includes a GoFundMe campaign and a call for small-scale investors who can contribute at least $1,000 and be repaid over several years with negotiated interest.

Yakini said one of the co-op’s biggest challenges is public misunderstanding of its model. The store is a cooperative, meaning people 21 and older can pay a small fee to become owner-members and may serve on committees or receive profit sharing if it is available. But Yakini said shoppers do not need to be members to buy groceries there, and the store has worked to correct the mistaken belief that it operates like a membership warehouse or a food pantry.

“That’s a big issue that has been impacting sales,” Yakini said.

Leadership turnover has added to the strain. Yakini said the store and its general manager parted ways early this year, and it took six months to fill the position. The replacement manager then suffered an accident and has only recently returned to work part-time, he said.

Those problems came as food costs rose, hitting independent grocers especially hard. Yakini said small stores cannot buy in bulk at the lower prices available to national chains, though he said many items at the co-op are priced at or below those at other grocers.

Some shelves have sat empty at times, showing the cash-flow problems the store is trying to correct. The co-op says it is making operational changes to restock shelves and stabilize operations.

The store is on Woodward Avenue in the North End, a neighborhood where residents have long lacked easy access to full-service grocery options. Yakini said the co-op’s mission extends beyond selling food. He described it as a community development project that creates local jobs and keeps money circulating in Detroit rather than sending profits to outside owners.

“Clearly it is more than a grocery store, and the value proposition is much larger in terms of community development, creating community based jobs, and creating a democratic institution that is owned by community members,” Yakini said.

The co-op’s appeal comes as Detroit remains short on grocery stores. Most of the city’s roughly 80 grocery stores are not Black-owned or managed, leaving few opportunities for Black residents to gain management experience in the industry. The co-op was created in part to address that gap.

Yakini said the store needs the $155,000 within the next month to keep operating.