Who We Are
We're GreenStar Food Co+op
It’s nice to meet you
Since 1971.
GreenStar is a community owned food co-op, where everyone is welcome.
GreenStar is a consumer cooperative, collectively owned by over 14,000 member-owners. Everyone is welcome to shop at GreenStar Food Co-op, where we celebrate fresh groceries, whole foods, sustainable living, and the transformative power of a strong local economy. With 3 locations across the Ithaca and Collegetown, NY region, we take pride in opening our grocery store’s doors to everyone in the community.
When you join GreenStar, you join the worldwide cooperative movement, changing the way business is done by placing people and the environment first and investing profits back into the Co-op and community. We value local farmers and producers, community, health, the environment, and social justice, and we consider the impact of the choices we make on the things that we value.
We are committed to being inclusive and free of discrimination. We seek out and welcome people from diverse communities to participate in a community-owned cooperative business structure. We are an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer.
GreenStar memberships are for individuals 18 years of age and older; household or family memberships are not available. Organizational Co-op Memberships are available for locally-owned businesses, cooperatives, nonprofits, and school groups. Contact membership@greenstar.coop for details.
Explore Our Locations
Cascadilla Street
Dewitt
215 N. Cayuga Street (DeWitt Mall)
Hours
Monday - Friday 8a – 9p
Saturday & Sunday 9a – 8p
Store info.Collegetown
GreenStar Cooperative Market Land Acknowledgement
Adopted by Council on November 9, 2021
GreenStar Food Co-op recognizes that the sacred land in which we operate is situated upon the unceded traditional, ancestral and contemporary homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ Nation (known as the Cayuga Nation).
The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ is one of the six sovereign Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, whose rich sovereign traditions of land management, food propagation and harvesting have stewarded this land and water for over 1,000 years, and sustained people in vitality for millennia.
We pause to remember and mourn the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ people, past and present, to these lands, waters, plants and animals.
We seek to uplift and empower the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ currently living in our local Finger Lakes Region of New York. The Co-op recognizes and supports the sovereignty of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ, who are still working to gain recognition of their treaty rights by New York State and The United States.
We deeply value the land that we operate on, and importantly the land that we source our food from. We commit to source products that support the regeneration of land that has been harmed by colonial land practices is one way that we practice this acknowledgment.
As we constantly work towards the Cooperative Principles of Concern for the Community, and Education, Training, and Information, we will continue to educate ourselves and our members, as to how the Co-op can best support the Gayogohono Nation.
The Cooperative Difference
A Cooperative is a business that is created and owned by the people who use its goods and services. A co-op is unique because its members are the owners. Member-owners not only get the products and services they need, but also have a say in the business decisions of the co-operative.
Cooperative economics have been practiced by humans for millennia – from Ancient China to Indigenous cultures worldwide. The roots of the modern Cooperative business movement date back to England in the mid-1840’s. The Industrial Revolution brought about a mass centralization and mechanization of the workforce that greatly reduced the control that most people had over their economic, political, and social life. Access to high-quality food and essential goods was out of many people’s reach. As a result, in 1844 a group of 28 weavers and artisans formed the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and opened what was to become the first successful cooperative store, selling the high-quality, unadulterated goods they couldn’t afford otherwise.
Today, Co-ops form for similar reasons. They provide needed goods and services at affordable prices and acceptable quality when the conventional marketplace fails to do so. Co-ops are also formed to foster the ideals of empowerment, tolerance, collaboration, and fairness within the workplace, marketplace, and community at large.
Cooperatives measure their success using a Triple Bottom Line. This means they focus on the social and environmental impact the Co-op makes as well as on their financial performance. With an estimated 2 billion member-owners currently worldwide, creating over 250 million jobs around the world, Co-ops are a vital economic and social force, impacting both their local and the global economy.
The 7 Cooperative Principles
All Co-ops follow the 7 Co-operative Principles, which are based on the original principles established by the Rochdale pioneers in the 1840’s. So, whatever the business, whether it is a natural food grocery store in Ithaca, a local utility company in the Midwest, or a coffee plantation in Guatemala, all Co-ops use these principles to guide their decisions and operations, and put their values into practice.
1. Voluntary and Open Membership
Co-operatives are voluntary organizations open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibility of membership without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.
2. Democratic Member Control
Co-operatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Those serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership.
3. Member Economic Participation
Members contribute equitably to and democratically control the capital of their co-operative.
4. Autonomy and Independence
Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If co-operatives enter into agreements with other organizations, or raise capital from external sources, they do so in ways to ensure democratic control by the members and maintain their co-operative independence.
5. Education, Training and Information
Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives.
6. Co-operation Among Co-operatives
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, regional, national and international structures.
7. Concern for Community
While focusing on member needs, co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.
GreenStar’s Ends Statements
The Purpose of GreenStar Cooperative Market:
Community
– to Nurture a constructive, dynamic, and supportive cooperative community, and a culture of shared purpose and respect among people of diverse backgrounds.
Cooperation
– to Foster cooperative attitudes, cooperative ownership as an alternative economic model, collaboration among cooperatives and like-minded businesses, and engagement with the larger co-op movement.
Local, Democratic Control
– to Ensure local, democratic control of the cooperative through open participation in and transparent governance of a member-owned retail grocery store.
Good Food, Plus
– to Provide wholesome, healthy, affordable, ethical, and fresh groceries, as well as quality goods and services to support a healthy lifestyle.
Sustainability
– to Make a meaningful contribution toward ecological sustainability, including a zero-carbon footprint and increased local and regional food self-reliance.
Education
– to Ensure that its members and shoppers can learn about cooperatives, food, regional and community-based food systems, health, sustainability and social justice within the inclusive space of their local grocery store.
Fairness
– to Show by example that a successful business can be an empowering and safe work environment, committed to fair treatment of both people and animals, and dignity and non-discrimination for all, including those whose labor produces and provides the goods carried by the Co-op.