Totaling more than 30,000 square feet, the building that houses the supermarket, known as the Detroit Food Commons, fulfills needs beyond food services. Upstairs, there are offices for the DBCSFN, a banquet hall available for community events and four commercial kitchens for rent for food business owners in need of prep space. Though the supermarket is open, the official celebration of the opening is scheduled for May 18.
Owned by more than 2,600 Michigan residents who are primarily Black and from Detroit, Detroit People’s Food Co-op is the first Black-led and operated grocery co-op in the Motor City in decades, the Detroit News reported.
The co-op is the vision of member-owner Malik Yakini, executive director of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, which spearheaded the $22 million project. Yakini served as keynote speaker for the Cooperative Development Track’s Youth Symposium at NCBA CLUSA’s Co-op IMPACT Conference in 2023.
“Everything that we’re doing is about empowering and uplifting Black people,” Yakini told the Detroit News. “Working together is the way we can galvanize our power and our wealth.”
Detroit People’s Food Co-op is a member of National Co+op Grocers (NCG). NCG, whose 164 member co-ops operate more than 230 storefronts in 39 states with combined annual sales of $2.5 billion, is a member of NCBA CLUSA.