Detroit residents are rallying to support a community-owned grocery store.

As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Detroit People’s Food Co-Op opened its doors in 2024. It is a Black-led and community-owned grocery cooperative in an area where food access remains a challenge. It has invited the community to be at the center of its business model, welcoming those 21 and older as members. By joining, members can participate in committees that include communications, disability and aging advocacy, outreach, and finance and fundraising, Lanay Gilbert-Williams, president of the co-op, told WDET. 

Members can also run for a board seat, receive periodic discounts, and make decisions on where profits are spent if the co-op generates a surplus. The co-op further encourages members to become owners. Becoming a lifetime member and owner through an equity share requires $200 per person, according to its website.

“One of the benefits of having a cooperative in the community is that because the community governs the cooperative, we get to decide how we’re going to circulate those dollars that we make in our community,” Gilbert-Williams said to WDET. “We support local vendors, local farmers. We hire local residents in the cooperative, unlike some larger food chains where they can determine who they’ll hire, how far out they live from the community, or if they live in the community at all. We find that some of our local vendors and our urban gardeners, our local farms, have a really tough time getting their products in local grocery stores.”

She added, “Most grocery stores here in Detroit aren’t owned by Detroiters or people who live in Detroit. So they’re not prioritizing Detroiters and circulating those dollars in the community.”

In 2026, Detroit People’s Food Co-Op’s commitment to its community hasn’t wavered. However, upholding that mission now requires greater support. Two years after opening its doors, the co-op has shared that its business is struggling. WDET reports it projected bringing in more than $4 million in sales annually, or $80,000 per week. Those projections have fallen short, with sales reaching about $3 million.

So the Detroit People’s Food Co-Op board of directors launched the Mframadan campaign — Ghanaian for “a house built to withstand treacherous conditions” — to encourage customers to spend $10 more than usual and to recruit 500 new owners. According to its GoFundMe page, it has raised $34,900 (as of this writing), surpassing its $20,000 goal.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Sept. 12, Detroit People’s Food Co-Op revealed that it also received a $25,000 check from Black Leaders Detroit!

BLK GRL Conglomerate founder Torie Anderson-Lloyd also rallied the north-end community, drawing a crowd of customers to the store on Saturday, Oct. 10, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“I didn’t know anything about this place until I saw it on Facebook,” Watanna Lowry, a resident of Clinton Township, told Detroit People’s Food Co-Op. “They wanted 100 Black women to come here and support. I saw that, and I got my best friends, and we came to support.”

Anderson-Lloyd said:

“Sometimes organizing can simply be putting out a community call. One thing that the city of Detroit has taught me in my 41 years of living here is that we take care of each other. One thing we’re gonna do is we’re gonna take care of each other. And this, for me, is just proof of that.”