DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Growing food co-op stays true to original spirit

It's just the kind of place Dharma would shop (while Greg stayed home). Heck, Dharma's parents (if they weren't just TV characters) would have been on its original board of directors. Back then, the Good Food Co-op, 62 Pyatt St., Youngstown, was the "Good Karma Food Co-op."
Honest. And it hasn't changed all that much, at least not in concept. Be good to the earth. Be good to the farmer. Sell good foods for good health. Don't make a profit; be run and owned by shareholders.
Tucked into a row of buildings that look more like warehouse space than grocery square footage, across from a farmers market, the co-op houses an array of organic and health foods, herbs and spices that draw in earth lovers, animals lovers, allergy sufferers and health conscious grocery shoppers. It is run by a volunteer board, co-op members, and a paid staff led by Betsy Stark, the manager.
"Our membership is at about 350," Stark said. "Each member is an owner and owns one share of the co-op."
Membership: Though anyone can shop at the Good Food co-op, membership comes with benefits. "An owner gets back 2 percent on purchases," Stark said. "If a member also volunteers [in the store], he gets another 10 percent off. Members get to buy by the case, too, for more savings. It all pyramids." If a member withdraws, the $100 membership fee is refunded.
Though some prices are a bit higher than some other stores, Stark insisted, "You can eat good now and pay now, or eat bad now and pay later."
Besides, Stark said, "We price things as low as we can. We look for the best price, buy in the biggest quantity we can, and charge the lowest prices we can. Our goal is really to educate."
Expansion: Started 25 years ago out of a church basement as a buying club, the co-op is now embarking on an expansion. It's funky, free spirit atmosphere will remain, however, as walls make way for more space.
Right now, refrigerated cases with tofu hotdogs and other goodies line the wall opposite a single checkout line.
This is positioned south of an amazing array of spices that give the look of an apothecary shop. Plastic envelopes hold chili powder, dill weed, ginger, goldenseal, red henna leaf, poppy seed and dozens of other herbs arranged alphabetically on narrow shelves.
A bit farther ahead are banks of grains, many organic, and flours, leading to pastas from not only semolina but rice and corn, too. Other shelves hold nuts, breads, cereals and other packaged health foods and toiletries.
In the back room, you can find refrigerated granola, cashew butters, tahini sauces, organically grown fruits and vegetables and much, much more.
"When the co-op started, it was back in the hippie days and people wanted to go back to Mother Nature and whole foods -- what our grandparents did naturally, but had since been lost to convenience foods," Stark said.
Manager: Stark is only the second manager in the co-op's history. Following in the footsteps of the first manager, Katie Cullum, Stark will mark her one-year anniversary next month. She had been an employee two years before that. And a shopper for a half-dozen years before that.
"My parents had health conditions. My dad couldn't eat yeast breads," Stark said. "My mom was diabetic and had hepatitis C. She couldn't have refined sugar.
"I remember how thrilled my dad was to find wheat-free waffles here," she added. Later, when her father had to undergo dialysis and couldn't eat dairy products, they shopped the co-op for nondairy substitutes.
Stark said co-op customers, who number from 90 to 150 a day, range from vegans who avoid all meat and dairy, and raw foodists (who don't cook their vegan fare) to plain old carnivores.
murphy@vindy.com