By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

Kennett Community Grocer (KCG) Board President Edie Burkey said at the organization’s annual board meeting on April 10 that it continues its efforts to find a permanent location for a store.

Burkey began the meeting, however, by addressing a more immediate issue: the recent actions of the Trump administration to dismantle federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the potential impact these cuts may have on consumers being assured that their food is safe.

“Everybody in this room wants to buy foods and food products, all grown locally,” she said to an audience of 25 at the Kennett Senior Center. “I think that was important all along, but since January that has taken a big step forward in importance. We do not know what is going to happen to our global food supply, and globally produced foods could become very expensive. The USDA and the CDC – two entities that protect us from disease and from problems in our food supply – have been hollowed out. 

“Those at the CDC, who are responsible for tracking infectious diseases, are gone, and the USDA will dismantle the Washington, D.C. office completely and move it to regional hubs. In the process, we’re going to lose a lot of our inspectors.”

Burkey said that the potential loss of food safety oversight will draw more focus on food coops to fill that gap by providing locally grown healthy food.

“Having a locally sourced food supply in the area allows communities and community organizations to step up where once there were state and federal systems,” she said. “Food co-ops have traditionally been places where people know one another, see one another and talk with one another.”

The recent news also continues to accentuate the urgency to fulfill the organization’s primary mission. Now in its eighth year, Kennett Community Grocer now has nearly 500 member-owners; developed a 1,300-member mailing list; created a board of directors; established by- laws; developed an on-line newsletter; created partnerships with dozens of local farmers and vendors; held numerous public events, including 13 in 2024; and is in the early stages of kicking off a capital campaign. 

While the organization has successfully connected the necessary dots in the community during that time, it is doing so in order to locate, develop, open and manage a 12-hour, seven-day-a-week, membership-driven food co-op.

A location nearly came to fruition last year when KCG signed a lease to occupy a 7,000- square-foot space at the Kennett Square Borough Hall at 600 South Broad Street. After a letter of agreement was accepted by Kennett Borough Council, the organization began to conceptualize the design and affordability of opening the store, but ultimately, the Council rejected KCG’s lease agreement based on a discrepancy on the per-square-foot cost of leasing the space. 

In addition, there was a potential conflict with KCG occupying the space, given that the parking lot near the planned store is used frequently throughout the year by events produced by Kennett Collaborative and other outside entities, which given the large attendance at these events would have closed off access to the store. 

Small, large? Retail options discussed

A large portion of the 90-minute meeting was devoted to sharing ideas about potential locations for a store, the options of which ranged from creating a smaller store, developing an online ordering model, and continuing to raise the necessary funding to support a store about the size of the one that was planned to be retrofitted in the Borough building. 

Board member Mitch Warren recommended that KCG begin to establish its presence in the local marketplace soon. In the next six months to a year, he recommended that the organization create an online ordering system with local farmers on its website.

“Even if it’s a delivery store only or a mini store and delivery or just a mini store, we need to try something,” he said. “If we just hope for someone to show up and donate land and money after all of our efforts that have already been put in, I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere this way.”

Burkey said there are properties right now within walking distance of the center of Kennett Square Borough that are between 800 and 1,200 square feet, which if chosen would create a smaller imprint that could allow the KCG to establish a physical store, develop a customer base and an online food ordering system, and leverage its success to build a larger store. 

Burkey said that according to the food co-op industry, the optimal space needed for a store is 4,000 square feet of retail space and between 1,000 to 1,500 square feet dedicated to offices and storage space. In addition, a food co-op location of this size would require between 20-25 parking spaces and adequate space for double-axle trucks to make deliveries. She said that she has approached several business owners and farmers about possible sites and delivery models, but to date, no serious negotiations have begun.

“The big challenge for us is to determine, ‘How does a food co-op open its doors?’” Burkey said. “How do you go from establishing a membership to begin shopping?’ To open a sustainable door and work with farmers, we have to create a store that has been designed and equipped in the most cost-effective way possible, and with as little debt as possible.”

Finding the right location for Kennett Community Grocer, Burkey said, should be chosen not just on the basis of its location, but for economic reasons.

“We do not need a fancy interior,” she said. “We can choose used refrigeration and used shelving. What becomes really expensive is what we were going to have to do at 600 South Broad Street, which was to blow out walls, create doors, put in the plumbing and refrigeration and insulate the place.” 

In other business, the KCG board agreed that the organization will make its chili cook-off contest an annual event, and that a new committee will be formed to organize and schedule this year’s contest for later this year. Applications to become a member of the KCG’s 12-member board for a three-year term are now available on the organization’s website, through May 2. Board elections will run from May 12-24.

To learn more about Kennett Community Grocer, visit www.kennettcommunitygrocer.coop

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].