PCC Community Markets is a food

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

based in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. With over 58,000 members, it is the largest consumer-owned food cooperative in the United States. Both members and non-members may shop at the retail locations, but members receive certain discounts. The organization currently operates fifteen retail locations. Eight of the fifteen stores are located in Seattle (in the Fremont, Green Lake, Columbia City, View Ridge,

West Seattle West Seattle is a conglomeration of neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington, United States. It comprises two of the thirteen districts, Delridge and Southwest, and encompasses all of Seattle west of the Duwamish River. It was incorporated as an i ...

, Ballard and Central District neighborhoods). The West Seattle location reopened on October 2, 2019. The other seven are located in

Issaquah Issaquah ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 40,051 at the 2020 census. Located in a valley and bisected by Interstate 90, the city is bordered by the Sammamish Plateau to the north and the "Issaquah Alp ...

, Kirkland, Burien,

Bothell Bothell () is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48,161 resident ...

, Redmond,

Edmonds Edmonds may refer to: * Edmonds (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the surname) * Edmonds, Washington, a city in Washington, US ** Edmonds station (Washington), a passenger train station in Washington, US * Edmonds station (SkyTr ...

and

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to: Placenames Australia * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales Canada ...

. The organization was founded in 1953 as Puget Consumers Co-op and was renamed to PCC Natural Markets in 1998. It was then renamed PCC Community Markets in 2017.

Organization

PCC is a member-owned and operated cooperative. The members govern through established bylaws and yearly elect a Board of Trustees who represent the interests of the members. Like other grocery cooperatives, the profits from the retail store operations go directly back into the stores or to the community (through classes, education or charitable efforts). Current PCC programs include: * PCC ''Sound Consumer'' newspaper * PCC Cooks classes * PCC Farmland Trust, a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

dedicated to

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

Candidates on the board of trustees are required to collect 1,000 member signatures to appear on ballots. , it has 90,000 members. Two candidates in the 2021 election, both employees endorsed by the

United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...

union, alleged that store managers had called the police on them while gathering signatures in an attempt to dissuade support. The employees were ultimately included in the ballot and won election to the board of trustees, becoming the first store employees to sit on the board since the early 2000s.

Relationship with Central Co-op

In 1978, Capitol Hill Co-op dissolved for financial reasons and, in keeping with the principle that co-operatives cooperate with other cooperatives, PCC agreed to provide technical and financial assistance to the Central Co-op to replace it.

Pricing

According to '' Consumers' Checkbook'' magazine, PCC's prices for the limited number of comparable items available were higher than the big-chain average. However, the quality of PCC's fresh produce and meat received very high scores. The prices of organic food at PCC were about the same as the average prices at other stores in the Puget Sound area.

References

External links

*
Central Co-op website
{{Supermarkets of the United States Organic farming organizations Supermarkets of the United States Consumers' cooperatives in the United States Food cooperatives in the United States Companies based in Seattle 1953 establishments in Washington (state)

Organization

Relationship with Central Co-op

Pricing

See also

References

External links