What are the differences between food co-operatives and health food stores?

Often people think that our food co-operative is the same as a health food shop, but there are a number of differences.

The Food Co-op strives to provide food, household goods and a method of shopping which is environmentally sound, socially responsible, and good for your health. This is reflected both in the types of food that are sold and in the way the co-op is organized and run.

The co-operative aims to provide quality products that meet the principals of being environmentally sound and socially responsible. This means that we consider a number of factors when buying products including reduced or no packaging, organic or bio-dynamic, the food miles travelled, social factors like supporting fair trade products as well as the quality of the product (for a list of the products that we stock please refer to the stock list).

The food co-operative is collectively run which means that volunteers can have a say in what they would like to do as well as participate in the decision making and running of the co-operative.

The co-operative is a not-for-profit organisation which means that the money we make is ploughed back into the running of the co-operative as well as funding Friends of the Earth€™s environmental campaigns.