Ducks
beat
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Oregon daily
emerald
Monday, November 1, 1982
Eugene. Oregon
Volume 84. Number 42
To market
Produce & prices
please pocketbooks
"Anybody that doesn't buy
their produce here is crazy."
says Steve LeBow, his voice
rising as he springs from a chair
in the Spartan-like office of the
Growers Market in Eugene
"This is the best show in town "
LeBow, who works for local
sprout producer Sprout City,
quickly ruins his credibility as an
impartial judge when he tosses
a free bag of his product to a
reporter. "Eat sprouts or eat
shit," he says pleasantly on his
way out the door
Sprout City aside, others are
willing to testify that the
Growers Market offers a nice
array of foodstuffs at sharply
reduced prices, in an friendly,
cooperative atmosphere
The store had humble begin
nings in a couples' garage in
1971.
Originally, about 30 orders
were placed each week, and in
just a few years orders were
running at 500 a week The
booming, non-profit co-op soon
moved into the large warehouse
it now occupies at 454
Willamette St., in the shadow of
the Hult Performing Arts Center
Most local merchants agree
that as unemployment and busi
ness failures have soared to
levels unmatched since the
Great Depression, Eugene area
consumers have drawn a tighter
fist around their pocketbooks
It would seem reasonable to
conclude that any business
designed to offer essential
commodities at lower prices,
such as the Growers Market,
would thrive in an uncertain
economy
But after those years of
prosperity in the mid-70s, the
Growers Market, the last food
co-op of its type still surviving in
Eugene, is up against the
financial wall Business has
plummeted from that high of 500
orders per week in 1975 to just
50 a week at present, just
enough to keep afloat
“Things got to the point in
June where we figured we
needed a manager to keep the
thing going." says Alan Siporin,
who was awarded that task “In
Photo by Mark Pynes
What’s a ‘mother’ to do?
You wouldn't think the University’s venerable pioneer
mother, circa late-1800s — would have to suffer such
indignities, but some disrespectful Halloween
pranksters planted a grinning pumpkin on her head
Sunday afternoon. What's the pioneer father to think?
The mural on the wall of the Growers Market warehouse shows satisfied, smiling co-op members, but
hard times have hurt the market’s business
spite of the economy, it seems
that the number one concern in
people s shopping has been
convenience People have
apparently been comfortable
enough to go down to the
neighborhood grocery and pay
the higher prices ”
Taking advantage of the
downturn in consumer con
fidence, the Growers Market
hopes to build up its
membership again
“We feel that the economy
has changed to the point where
the market should pick up,”
says Siporin. “Beliefs are
changing — people are getting
laid off. If they found out about
the market and gave it a try,
many of them would find it more
than satisfactory."
The co-op concept is simple
and relaxed — anyone can order
food from the co-op and thereby
become a member. There are
no questionaires to fill out, no
membership fees to pay. Orders
are placed each Wednesday by
phone or in person and picked
up on Thursday.
Co-op members can get a
10-percent reduction on their
food bill if they agree to work in
the store one hour per order,
regardless of the size of the
purchase.
Work might include parceling
out large bags of flour into
smaller bags, filling orders, run
ning the cash register, taking
orders over the phone, cutting
cheese and other tasks.
The market stocks more than
100 items, including a variety of
fruits and vegetables, rices,
granola, cheeses, nuts, juice,
bagels and breads. Personal
articles are sparse — there is a
healthy supply of toilet paper
but shampoo and other sun
dries must be ordered from a
catalogue a week in advance.
Despite the inconviences,
there is at least one distinct
advantage
“You can do $20 worth of
shopping at a supermarket for
$15 here,” says Siporin. “The
basic mark-up at a supermarket
is 50 percent We mark ours up
15 percent, so even if you don't
Co-op member inspects an apple — just one of the many kinds of
produce available at the Growers Market.
work and pay the extra 10
percent, it’s still a good deal.”
A sampling of current prices
are 9 cents a pound for white
potatoes, 8 cents a pound for
yellow onions, $1.06 per pound
of local mushrooms and 98
cents for 46 ounces of
pineapple juice.
The prices are competitive —
the decline of the Growers
Market’s appeal can be traced
in part to an image problem.
’’We’ve probably had an
image for several years of, well I
guess the word would be hip
pies’,’’ says Siporon, who has
been with the co-op since 1972.
’But what I want to say is that
we've had a lot of different folks
in and out of here. We’ve had a
lot of older folks, and we still do.
We’ve had a good deal of
middle-class working people,
and we still do, and a lot of
students.
"What we’re really trying to
do is to just let people know
we re here, I think maybe that’s
the major problem. We don’t
really want to slick the place up
We’ve got an answering
machine that doesn't work.”
Not that anyone would
accuse the place of being too
slicked up. The atmosphere of
the Growers Market can only be
described as early bohemia —
rough-hewn wooden floors and
an overwhelmingly-and-deter
mined lack of decor.
"It’s not a warm, cozy, fire
side-chatting kind of place,"
admits Marcia Cutler, a long
time member. "I go there
because I like to get goods that
are healthy and inexpensive. It’s
just a pleasant experience — a
nice way to be around people ”
Story by Sean Meyer
Photos by Bob Baker