WINDSOR TERRACE — A Park Slope-style food co-op could launch soon on the border of Windsor Terrace and Kensington — if organizers can recruit 100 members by next month.
Leaders of the fledgling Windsor Terrace Food Co-op found a space on Caton Avenue near East Eighth Street, but they need money to put down a deposit and make renovations, said Mario Caggiano, a Windsor Terrace resident involved in the co-op.
If 100 people sign up and pay the $100 membership fee by Dec. 1, the group will have enough to secure the space, Caggiano said.
As of Thursday, 57 members signed up for the co-op and Caggiano was hopeful they would hit their target.
"The objective is to get to that goal but if we don’t, a lot of us will be deflated because this has been going on for two years,” Caggiano said.
The idea to start a food co-op hatched in 2012, after Windsor Terrace's only large supermarket, the Key Food on Prospect Avenue, closed.
Neighbors spent the past two years drumming up support for the new grocery store, which would operate similarly to the well-known Park Slope Food Co-op. Members would be required to work a certain number of hours in exchange for the right to buy fresh, mostly local and organic, food at lower prices.
If organizers succeed in their membership drive, first reported by the Kensington BK blog, they hope to open the cooperative grocery in 2015. If not, they'll regroup and members will get their money back.
"It's going to be a great way to get healthy alternatives," Caggiano said. "There really aren't any alternatives if you want to have fresh organic fruits and vegetables, or really any fruits and vegetables, in the neighborhood."
