Foodienomics

The Park Slope Co-op Makes More Money Than Whole Foods

The trend toward neighborhood grocery co-ops is nice and all from the perspective of community-building and responsible inventory sourcing, but hot damn is it also a moneymaker: The Park Slope Food Co-op pulled in a whopping $39.4 million in its last fiscal year, reports Fortune, which translates into a per-square-foot average of over $6,500. Big numbers, to be sure, but it’s even more impressive when we compare it with Whole Foods. Extrapolating from their second quarter 2010 numbers, the notoriously high-margin chain had a per-store average of just $31.2 million — and a per-square-foot sales average just an eighth of PSFC’s, at $838. As responsible amateur finance writers, we really should note that Whole Foods’$2 300 stores means that an average really is just an average, but still. We will smugly declare this a victory for the home team.

The rise of the grocery co-op [Fortune]
Whole Foods Market Q2 2010 Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha]

The Park Slope Co-op Makes More Money Than Whole Foods