The Monta Vista Market closed down on July 25 this year, as the owners Peter and Gail Yessne could no longer sustain market performance nor afford the losses in profit. The Yessnes declined to comment beyond the above statement. However, a local group of volunteers, past customers who fell in love with the grocery shop, are currently collaborating to establish and reopen the market as a community co-operative in a cause they call “Save the Market.”
A co-operative, or co-op, is a business owned by a collective of customers who volunteer to manage the entity’s operations for mutual benefit.
The local group, constituted of 12 regular residents in the Bay Area, selected this option to distribute the work and thereby share responsibility over the market’s operations and business-related aspects; however, the group’s primary motivation is not of material gain but of love for a neighbor that will be missed. For a place that was, in a way, a home. Group organizers Joyce Edenand Joni Sare, loyal shoppers since the market’s opening in 2011, recall that the Monta Vista Market acted as a place of gathering and socializing. Customers and neighbors met and became friends, and a community was created.
“[Shopping at the MV Market] was like being in a different country,” Eden said. “It was just so intimate and friendly.”
Outside, crates of fruits and squashes would welcome customers with the season’s fresh, spilling bounty of ripened melons, pumpkins and pineapples, as the market offered healthy, organic and local produce found nowhere else but this little market. Sare, a chef who had previously held cooking demonstrations at the market, remembers the ease and confidence with which she could purchase quality ingredients.
“[I loved] the high standards of food, the quality, knowing that everything was organic and non-GMO,” Sare said. “So many things add up. I want it to stay.”
Junior Tal Marom is another advocate of the market’s friendly environment and organic foods. Marom, who first found the market while designing 2013 quad decorations nearby, would stop by every week and buy his favorite food, “Tofu Yu’s Quinoa Salad”, which is supplied by a producer in Berkeley and not by larger, more recognized grocery stores just a walk down Stevens Creek Blvd. As the market generally matured, expanding into chocolates and snacks, Marom grew to know and look forward to seeing employees whom he began to think of as his friends. One advantage of the small community store was its emphasis on customer-centered service and the friendship of the people; the market’s employees would order specific and occasionally uncommon foods customers desired, suggest recipes for snacks and meals and know customers by name.
To bring back the shop, the group’s first move was to spread awareness and gather interest for its cause. On the MV Market Facebook page, the Yessnes had announced the closing of the market and organized an open meeting on July 16 to consider the available options.
On July 21, “Save the Market” held its first meeting, advertised through the Facebook page, for willing participants to discuss ideas on how to re-open the store as a co-op and keep it running. Approximately 30 people attended the first meeting and exhibited interest in participating in the efforts, andthe group decided to hold a follow-up meeting on July 23.
“[We] had three or four meetings in one week,” Sare said, “and between those three meetings, I think we had 100 people that showed up total, showing support, wanting the market to stay.”
The “Save the Market” volunteers’ initial efforts evolved and progressed as they raised money and recruited volunteers in diverse fields of expertise, including a financial advisor and an analyzer of marketing trends. They also received assistance from a number of people who loaned money to support the cause and posted a sign on the closed market’s door to further increase awareness.
“[Shopping at the MV Market] was like being in a different country,” Eden said. “It was just so intimate and friendly.”
“Save the Market” has gathered dedicated volunteers, it continues its efforts in bringing the market back to life. The participating individuals began a Yahoo! group to maintain the flow of ideas for both its creation and the market’s potential re-opening. Currently, they are awaiting a report on the present economy so that they can determine the co-op’s potential to open. Their plans for the future include further researching into the financial viability of co-op, establishing the market’s committee and acquiring a manager, full-time employees and a general staff. If the market successfully re-opens, “Save the Market” may incorporate some of its ideas to keep the market in business: to combine the store with the restaurant next door to create a dual establishment or implement a lunch system for MV students to use pre-paid accounts and buy healthy lunches.
“I think a co-op would definitely bring the community together to support local, healthy foods,” Marom said. “I would purchase membership and I would even volunteer there if I could.”
With its combined efforts, the community strives to make the return of the market possible. They look to the future, when perhaps a passerby walking by the railway tracks or a MVHS student driving by in search of a healthy lunch may see a large, victorious sign that reads “Monta Vista Market: Grand Opening.”
This story was reported on by Lydia Seo and Caitlyn Tjong.
