Ocean Beach People’s Organic Food Market

A grocery on Voltaire Street trading since 1971 and reconstituted as a food co-operative in 1985, with roughly 14,000 member-owners. It is member-owned but open to everyone, and no membership is required to shop. The buying policy is vegetarian and organic throughout, which is unusual for a full-size grocery, and there is a deli counter alongside the produce and packaged departments. Membership costs a modest annual sum, and a food-access scheme called FLOWER offers reduced-price ownership and a standing discount to low-income shoppers. Surpluses are returned to members and to community and environmental work rather than to outside shareholders, and the shop belongs to the National Co+op Grocers association. It reflects Ocean Beach's long counter-cultural streak more plainly than anything else locally.