Detroit People's Food Co-op opens after 14 years of organizing

The Detroit People's Food Co-op opened its doors on May 1, 2024, at the corner of Woodward Avenue and East Euclid in the city's North End. It is Detroit's first Black-led, community-owned grocery store, and the morning it opened it had already signed up more than 2,500 member-owners from across the city and the state.

The co-op is the anchor tenant of the Detroit Food Commons, a mixed-use building on Woodward that the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network and Develop Detroit spent more than a decade bringing to life. National Cooperative Bank, which served as the direct lender, put the development at nearly $20 million. The financing included $7 million in New Markets Tax Credits allocated through Michigan Community Capital, with the project sited in a federally designated distressed census tract.

Membership is open to any Michigan resident 21 or older for a one-time fee, and ownership is not required to shop. Lanay Gilbert-Williams, president of the co-op board, framed the opening as a civic milestone rather than a storefront launch.

"This is the result of a diverse community coming together to create a solution for everyone in Detroit," Gilbert-Williams said in the co-op's opening announcement. "There's no other business in the city with over 2,500 owners from across the city and state."

The store sits on the ground floor of the Food Commons. The second floor houses the offices of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, four licensed shared-use commercial kitchens for local food entrepreneurs, and a banquet and reception space of roughly 3,000 square feet that can be rented for community events. Akil Talley, the co-op's general manager, said the focus is on produce grown by Detroit farmers.

"We're excited to welcome our community into a welcoming and inclusive environment centered on fresh, locally grown produce from Detroit's own farmers," Talley said.

Malik Yakini, the network's executive director and the project's public face for most of its history, has described the Food Commons as more than a grocery store. "Not only will the anchor tenant, the Detroit People's Food Co-op, provide greater access to fresh, healthy, nutrient dense foods, but it also provides an important model of community ownership and what moving towards a more racially just economy looks like," Yakini said in the lender's announcement of the financing.

The grand opening and ribbon cutting for the full Detroit Food Commons followed on May 18, 2024.

The early returns were strong. Through December, the co-op had cleared close to $3 million in sales and grown to more than 4,000 member-owners and over 30 employees, per BridgeDetroit.

The store is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 8324 Woodward Avenue.