Let’s face it. Co-ops are freak institutions. Investors want nothing to do with them because they’re goal is to meet a need in the community more than it is to generate profit.

“The time has come now when we are going to have to get what we need ourselves. We may get a little help here and there. But in the main, we’re going to have to do it ourselves.” –Fannie Lou Hamer

Food deserts (sacrifice zones) are microeconomies, from which wealth is extracted faster than it can be replaced by wages. That’s why there’s no grocery store: the community simply doesn’t have the buying power to keep one open.