[Scpg] Isla Vista Food Co-op Looking for Buy-In to Keep Its Building and is aiming to raise $225, 000 by Nov. 15

Sun Nov 11 20:24:55 PST 2012

Isla Vista Food Co-op Looking for Buy-In to Keep Its Building
http://www.noozhawk.com/article/isla_vista_food_co-op/

Facing possibility of a new owner, alternative grocer still short of 
fundraising goal to purchase the store itself

A fixture in the eclectic seaside community for nearly 40 years, the 
alternative grocer is aiming to raise $225,000 by Nov. 15 for a down 
payment to buy its building at 6575 Seville Road. With just a few days 
to go, the store has collected $118,148, according to general manager 
Melissa Cohen.

Click here http://www.projectweownit.org/ to make a donation to Project 
We Own It, or for more information.

When UCSB is in session, the Isla Vista Food Co-op at 6575 Seville Road 
serves about 600 customers a day, about 80 percent of them students. 
(Gabriella Slabiak / Noozhawk photo)

The Isla Vista Food Co-op is going down to the wire with its ambitious 
fundraising campaign.

A fixture in the eclectic seaside community for nearly 40 years, the 
alternative grocer is aiming to raise $225,000 by Nov. 15 for a down 
payment to buy its building at 6575 Seville Road. With just a few days 
to go, the store has collected $118,148, according to general manager 
Melissa Cohen.

The urgency has been driven by the landlord's announcement that the 
co-op's building would soon be going on the market. Although the co-op's 
lease isn't up until December 2013, Cohen said the nonprofit 
organization doesn't want to leave anything to chance.

"We had more to lose if we didn't try," said Cohen. "Could it be sold to 
someone who'd be very happy to have us here? Maybe. But, maybe not. I 
didn't want to take that risk."

As a result, Cohen and her colleagues embarked on a fundraising campaign 
called Project We Own It. To date, the co-op itself has put up $50,000 
toward the effort while the Isla Vista Community Development Corporation 
contributed $40,000. The rest, nearly $28,000, has been donated by 
community members.

"I have total confidence that it is going to happen," Cohen said.

The Isla Vista Food Co-op opened its first store in 1973 and has been at 
the Seville Road site for the past 32 years. When UC Santa Barbara is in 
session, Cohen estimates the co-op draws around 600 customers a day, 
about 80 percent of them students. Two-thirds of the store's employees 
are also students, she said.

"The co-op is so heavily populated by students," Cohen said. "We need 
... to get the community involved in a different way."

Gayle Schumacher, a 19-year-old UCSB student and weekly shopper at the 
store, says she has many friends who work at the co-op and who are 
involved in the fundraising project.

"There are multiple groups on campus that have gotten into (the 
project)," she said. "We don't have, like, a really extensive grocery 
store anywhere around here. It's cozy and comfortable. It feels kinda 
homey, and I love that about it."

John Squires, 62, has been a customer for 10 years and doesn't want to 
contemplate the store not being around.

"They are a part of the community, and have been for a long long time," 
he said. "It's like taking (away) Woodstock's (Pizza)."

Click here http://www.projectweownit.org/ to make a donation to Project 
We Own It, or for more information.

--- Noozhawk intern Gabriella Slabiak can be reached at 
gslabiak at noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, 
@NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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