Our History

Our co-op started in 1973, with about ten people in Menomonie that wanted to buy bulk foods to save money (typical 50# bag of oats purchased and split up). It started with monthly deliveries to one member’s garage, then moved to a few churches in town.

Pretty soon, they started ordering extras so that people could still get their needs met in between deliveries.

That eventually evolved into a storefront. The first tiny store was between this location and Leever’s building in what used to be a silverware store. Then we moved to another tiny store behind the Perkins on the North side. Then we moved to ANOTHER tiny store in North Menomonie on Broadway.

In 2001, we moved to our current building. It was the first time that we drastically increased our size and offerings. Our growth as a co-op has been record-setting ever since.

Menomonie Market’s membership elects the Board of Directors (BOD). The co-op has 9 directors, and they each serve a 3 year term. There are three open positions each year; any member can be nominated to serve. The main job of the BOD is to hire the General Manager, communicate the needs and desires of the membership into a “plan”, and make sound financial decisions for the co-op.

Sales have increased from $300K/year when we moved in 2001 to over $1M (and growing).