A new co-operative food market — one that would connect farmers with consumers — may rise from the ashes of the failing Kent Co-op grocery store in New Minas.
“It’s unfortunate that Kent Co-op went the way it did,” David Cudmore said Tuesday about the closing of the 41-year-old grocery store that couldn’t survive in a highly competitive grocery market dominated by large players like Sobeys, Loblaws and Walmart.
“At the closure meeting, there was quite a turnout and a lot of support given to why people like to shop at their co-op and all the wonderful things the co-op did for them,” said Cudmore, president and CEO of Scotian Gold Co-operative Ltd., a farmer-owned business.
“Whatever model Kent Co-op had just didn’t work,” he said in an interview at Scotian Gold’s apple storage warehouse and retail outlet in Coldbrook.
“But people expressed an interest in being involved if another opportunity came along.”
So a small group of people passionate about local food formed a committee and started looking at the options. It’s proposing a new co-operative food market that will put local products first and emphasize the connection between good food and healthy living.
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