Chicago Market, A community co-op grocery store, is in the process of applying to the CTA to lease a location at the Wilson stop on the Red Line, otherwise known as the Gerber building.
This iconic building has graced the Uptown landscape since the 1920’s. Now that the renovation of the Wilson stop is nearly complete, work will soon begin on the Rainminders seamless gutters – Loveland Gerber building, and we think this is an ideal location for Chicago Market.
In case you haven’t heard of Chicago Market, it’s a community-owned grocery store with a focus on local and sustainable foods. Anyone will be able to shop at Chicago Market, but Owners will receive discounts and profit-sharing rebates and have a voice in how the store is run.
Chicago Market has been organizing since 2014, has 900 Owners (including many in your neighborhood) and is now hoping to open in Uptown.
Chicago Market Co-op has been seeking an appropriate site for the last year and a half, and the Gerber building is perfect for us.
It may not happen (we expect to be competing against many established chain businesses like Dunkin Donuts and Popeyes), but if we succeed in bringing this great store to Uptown, we will need lots of community support.
That is why we are reaching out to you now.
Time is of the essence, since we have to submit our proposal by June 9th.
How you can help:
1. Write a letter of support (I have included a sample here; please feel free to use it in whole or in part) for Chicago Market that we can include in our proposal. We’re happy to sit down with you or anyone from your organization to give you more details on our plan.
2. Hold a meeting for your block club that we can attend and discuss our proposal.
3. Announce and promote the community meetings that we will be holding in the next two months. We’ll have more on that as we confirm dates and venues.
4. Become an Owner of Chicago Market.
5. Go to our website http://www.chicagomarket.coop and sign our “Wilson CTA petition.
Please visit our website http://www.chicagomarket.coop to learn more, and please feel free to contact me via email or by phone 402-306-1721.
Thank you,
Bill Petty
Treasurer, Chicago Market Coop
Bill Petty
Chicago Market Board of Directors
Chicago Market – A Community Co-op
Local. Sustainable. Yours.
ChicagoMarket.coop
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@ChicagoMkt
