Concept art for Berkshire Co-op’s new home by Gruskin Architecture + Design / Benchmark Development
The Berkshire Co-op Market is a thriving forty-year-old consumer-owned grocery store in western Massachusetts. In 2018, we joined a coalition of community lenders led by Cooperative Fund of New England and including PVGrows, Common Capital, Franklin County CDC, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. to pool funds and finance the construction and outfitting of their new facility. Berkshire Co-op member-owners also provided a large chunk of financing in the form of over two hundred member loans to the market. It’s a good example of how grassroots organizations with different but complementary missions can work together to make possible a project that none could handle alone.