Locally owned and operated for decades.

Eastside Food Co-op is your community-owned grocery store located in the heart of Northeast Minneapolis. We specialize in fresh, local and organic foods sourced from farmers and producers who care about the health of people and our planet. Eastside Food Co-op is here for good!

Exterior of eastside food co-op at dusk. Welcome to North East sticker

Eastside Food Co-op was grown by and for the Northeast Minneapolis community.

Eastside Food Co-op was grown by and for the Northeast Minneapolis community. ☺

Smiling family shopping at Eastside co-op
since 2003 sticker

How it all began.

Organizing efforts began in 1996, with a dedicated cohort of board members and volunteers. By opening day on December 4, 2003 our ownership was 800 community members strong. With support from founding owners and neighborhood organizations, Eastside opened the 4,500-square-foot natural foods grocery store the community had dreamed about for so many years.

By 2012, Eastside had outgrown its retail space. To further our mission and continue to meet the needs of our shoppers, we needed to expand. With significant help from our community, Eastside was able to complete a $6.5 million expansion project, doubling the size of the sales floor and adding much-needed parking spaces. We opened the expanded store to customers on July 12, 2016, and experienced 45% growth in our first year of operation post-expansion. This year of growth included adding 35 new staff and 1,000 new Eastside owners!


vintage photo of Eastside Food Co-Op signage

Today, the Eastside Food Co-op community is made up of more than 100 employees and nearly 11,000 owners!

Our Mission

Where our ends provide us with a roadmap for achieving the priorities of our owners, they don’t speak to the “why” behind the work that we do. At Eastside Food Co-op we fully believe that by serving others we nourish our community. By focusing on employing people from our community, supporting local businesses and initiatives and playing an active role in decisions that affect Northeast Minneapolis and the surrounding communities, we have the ability to make a difference. When we bring the same level of passion to nourishing our community as we do to nourishing our consumers’ health, we know that we can be successful in our endeavors.

Our Ends

Eastside Food Co-op is:

Part of a fair and equitable food system.

A well-run co-operative business that serves its community.

A trusted provider of high-quality consumer choices.

A diverse network of people connected through shared values.

smiling woman standing in front of a white background

Employee Philosophy

Employees are essential to the long-term success of Eastside Food Co-op. We will develop, attract and retain employees whose skills and talents are used effectively and whose integrity, productivity and commitment will provide true value to our organization.

Annual Reports

Learn more about the great things going on at Eastside.

What is a co-op?

A co-op is a business owned by its members, who share the profits or benefits. Find out more about what a co-op is and the The Seven Cooperative Principles that go into everything Eastside does.