Detroit People's Food Co-op seeks community support after financial strain

A Black-led, community-owned grocery store in Detroit is seeking help following a rough summer that put the business under financial strain.

Detroit People's Food Co-op opened on Woodward Avenue on the city's north end to provide fresh, quality, healthy food options to the area.

"This has been a process that took about 15 years to get this co-op here. We've been in operation for two years. There's a lot of blood, sweat and tears," Aaron Orr, general manager at Detroit People's Co-op, said.

Over the summer, a series of unfortunate events impacted the business. Canadian wildfire smoke kept people home, and a wall of coolers collapsed during a power outage.

"Our system completely shut down, and we lost days, and we lost thousands of dollars' worth of product," Orr said.

The store informed the community about its financial hardships on social media.

"When you're a fairly new business, any hit like that can completely set you back. So, we like to get in front of it. It's not as easy as to say, you know, we're $30,000 short. It's week to week. It's a battle that goes every week," Orr said.

Since then, there's been overwhelming support, including donations from popular podcasters and community groups organizing shopping days at the store.

"It makes us feel great, and that's the most important part, is that we don't want to take that support and just wash it away. We want that support, but we also want to give those people a payoff and show them what they're fighting for, which is this grocery store to not only be here, but to be the pillar of the community," Orr said.