Common Share Food Coop Comes to a Quiet End

Member owners of Common Share Food Coop voted to dissolve the coop at a special meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst on November 11. A vote was taken in the room, with pre-mailed votes counted. Fifty-two of the nearly 1000 member owners cast votes. According to the bylaws, a ⅔ vote of those present was needed to pass. 

48 (92%) voted to dissolve the coop
4 (8%) voted to not dissolve the coop

As a result, Common Share Food Coop will unincorporate (i.e., dissolve) as soon as the board completes the logistical and legal steps. The board hopes to complete the unincorproation before the end of 2025.

According to the bylaws, the remaining funds will be divided among member-owners into equal parts. Member owners can send an email to bod@commonsharefood.coop by December 11th to receive a $10 payout. Members are asked to include their full street address with their requeest. Or member-owners can forgo the return of their $10 payout which will then be part of a donation of remaining funds to the Amherst Survival Center (a decision made by the membership Nov. 11). 

The board had offered members three options:

1. Move forward with the current business plan (7,000 sq ft retail space requiring raising at least $4.2 M).

2. Reboot the business plan (e.g., smaller store, buying club, distribution-only phone app).

3. Vote to dissolve the corporation.

No Apparent Path Forward in the Face of Growing Challenges
In a letter to the membership dated October 24, 2025, the board listed what they deemed to be three significant obstacles to moving forward with the project.

1. The East Amherst store site is no longer viable. An additional $1.5 million would be required to modify the building’s substructure to support a grocery store, and the bank declined to extend this financing. We must now identify a new site and commission an updated market study.

2. The board recognizes we lack key skills required to move forward with the current business plan.

3. The board does not see strong evidence that Amherst has the level of sustained community engagement required for a cooperative to thrive.

The board reporting undertaking the following actions, prior to calling the vote:

● Maintained ongoing mentoring and regular consultation with Co-op consultants including Food Coop Initiative (https://fci.coop/), Neighboring Food Coop Association (https//nfca.coop) and other co-op experts.

● Contracted for a market study (positive, but noted a high level of competition from other local grocery stores, and that our market is smaller than most co-ops of the proposed size). ● Contracted with Columinate (https://columinate.coop/) to build and maintain a ten-year proforma (a financial model that predicts outcomes using variable inputs combined with typical industry values like general manager salary, and operating reserves as a percentage of sales).

● Met with River Valley Market about possible merger. Their response was not at this time nor in the foreseeable future.

● We also met with Jade Barker, a 14-year board member of the River Valley Market, for advice about transitioning the project.

There were individuals at the vote with interest in exploring alternative ways to move forward together.and the board offered to share selective records on request.

The Board (Mark Bucciarelli, Madeleine Charney, Sue Morrello, JuPong Lin and Paige Schaffer) thanked the many volunteers who contributed time and energy over the years, particularly acknowledging past board members for their dedication to this project.

Coop Would Have Offered a Full Service Market in a Certified Food Desert
Common Share leadership had arranged to build in East Amherst near the Fort River Elementary School, a community garden, and affordable housing, making it accessible to residents and a community hub. The location was in a USDA-certified food desert, with the aim to provide access to fresh, local food. The site was also located on a bus line. 

Writing about the vision for the market in 2022, Boone Shear reported:
The Common Share Food Co-op will be a full-service, community- and worker-owned grocery store located close to downtown Amherst and on a bus line. The store will feature local, sustainably grown, organic and conventional produce, meats, and dairy products, as well as all the other things you’d expect to find in a grocery store — bulk foods, dry goods, frozen foods, etc. The Co-op will also carry a range of household and cleaning products.

The Co-op’s professional Market Study, completed in the fall of 2017, assumed a 12,000 square foot store with 7,500 square feet of retail space and approximately 75 parking spaces. A store of this size would make shopping accessible and convenient and would be large enough to include a variety of grocery store departments, including produce, meat, dairy, a deli with prepared foods, and a hot bar with grab-and-go meals. The store will also offer frozen foods, a bakery, a small café area, and a beer and wine section.