A decade in the making, the South Philly Food Co-op (SPFC) has opened its doors.
Leigh Goldenberg, one of the first 100 member-owners at the co-op in 2011, joined before it had even begun searching for store locations.
To Goldenberg, investing in the co-op early on was a commitment to a future vision of a community-owned and democratically run grocery store.
At the time, Mariposa Food Co-op and Weavers Way Co-op, in West and Northwest Philly respectively, were the only grocery co-ops in Philadelphia—both of which first opened in the 1970s and 1980s. (Kensington Community Food Co-op opened in 2019.)