Could co-operative supermarkets be the solution to expensive organic food?

A newly open shop in Bilbao promises customers competitive organic prices – if they’re willing to stock shelves and work the till themselves, says Christy Romer

Are co-operative supermarkets the future? Shoppers at Labore think so (Raquel del Prado Robles)

People aren’t so different the world over. No-one likes the idea of eating something pumped full of antibiotics or colour-changing chemicals. No one wants to think about the animals they’ve just ingested growing up in excruciating pain.

But if there’s one thing stopping most people from going organic-only, it’s price. Who can afford to replace cereals and meats in their weekly shop with £4 a box muesli and organic cuts of meat that's more than a fiver dearer when wages remain low and the nearest organic shop is two bus rides away?

Recognising this, Labore, a new co-operative supermarket has opened in Santutxu – the most densely-populated neighbourhood in Bilbao – offering affordable eco-produce to anyone willing spend a few hours each year stacking shelves, working the till or unloading deliveries.

“The city has always had lots of organic shops, but we noticed that they had very high prices and were ultimately directed at a sort of elite group with large salaries,” explained Alaitz Ajuriagerra, one of the two salaried staff members at Labore.

“We’ve always believed that eating well and healthily should be a right, not a business, so we saw an opportunity for something different.”

And so emerged the new supermarket which trades first and foremost in organic food, stocking products from fresh sandia (watermelon) to local eusakl herria cheese, but also offers eco-cosmetics and detergents in a bid to be a single location for “all the weekly shopping”.

Alaitz Ajuriagerra, a salary staff member at Labore (Raquel del Prado Robles)

Prospective shoppers must pay an inscription fee and an annual €60 (£53) to become members, or socios, which gives them the right to buy products, vote on the supermarket’s major decisions and donate their labour.

Prices are kept fair for suppliers and shoppers by making use of such voluntary support and relatively low profit margins – which sit around half the size of the mark-up typically applied by organic shops.

But can an eco-supermarket ever be a cheaper alternative in a world populated by major supermarket chains, which are infamous for using their weight to bully suppliers into minimal returns?

For socios like Aritza Erkizia, who normally works as a digital marketer, the answer depends. “I think there are three types of people who shop here: those who come from everyday supermarkets, those who pay for weekly boxes of organic food, and those who regularly visit organic shops,” he explained.

“The first group may find the products a little expensive, and for the second group it’ll depend on the deals they’ve worked out as a community. It’s the third group that really notice a difference on price.”

The co-operative supermarket offers organic food at affordable prices, in return for a few hours of work each year (Raquel del Prado Robles)

The 400 or so socios who have signed up would probably agree. On some products, the savings are smaller (around €0.20 for 170g of Zuaitzo’s vegan hummus).

On others, they’re more pronounced: a dozen organic eggs in Labore costs €3.68, compared to €5.10 at the nearby Eroski supermarket – and for the record, 500g of basic muesli at Labore costs just €2.61.

Supermarkets like Labore are on the rise across Spain (Raquel del Prado Robles)

But for most products, beating supermarkets for price is neither possible nor desirable. Labore’s mission is to support smaller producers and to back projects that encourage systemic change in an agricultural sector overseen by large, often male-dominated companies.

Greater costs are the inevitable result for a shop committed to working ethically with smaller-scale suppliers, including mother-and-daughter pasta operations and local lettuce collectives, but this is welcomed by shoppers longing to spearhead change in the local area.

Labore’s success follows in the footsteps of other co-operative supermarkets: thousands have rushed to join models including Alicante’s long-standing bioTrèmol, which charges up to €1,000 as a one-off fee for the right to shop and volunteer in the supermarket.

Successful examples also abound in Paris – home to La Louve, which has accumulated 4,000 members since it opened in late 2016 – and New York, where the revered Park Slope coop has built up 17,000 members since it emerged in the early ‘70s.

But Labore’s opening seems to mark renewed momentum for a shopping experience that offers a direct link between production and consumption. New co-operative supermarkets are in the works in the nearby cities of San Sebastian and Valencia, and a version is expected to open in Madrid next year.

“Co-operative supermarkets are multiplying like mushrooms,” Ajuriagerra said, adding the challenge is no longer to convince people about the worth of the model – but instead to ensure there’s “enough production across the country to fit the eventual demand”.

Niko Cuenca believes being part of a co-operative supermarket is revolutionary (Raquel del Prado Robles)

Addressing this is across the North of Spain is one of Labore’s key ambitions.

For the UK, the obvious question is how to create a one-stop shop for a society with a taste for Mediterranean products in a distinctly un-Mediterranean climate.

But in an age of growing concern about sustainable consumption, knowing exactly where food has come from – and collectively lowering organic prices – may never have been more attractive.

And that’s before you remember the social implications. Another Labore socio, Niko Cuenca, summed it up like so: “I follow the thinking of feminist Vandana Shiva, who said you can do three revolutionary acts a day: at breakfast, at lunch, and at dinner.

“There are things I don’t like about the way society normally works. Being involved with the supermarket is my way of being a revolutionary."