2000.1.1248

2-Dec-83
8 in HIGH x 10 in WIDE
(20.32 cm HIGH x 25.40 cm WIDE)
The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of ANG Newspapers
2000.1.1248


An exterior view of the Acorn Super[market], taken diagonally of the front, showing the the logo of the Plaza, a rectangle inside a circle, housed under a roof supported by four concrete columns. Two automobiles and one trailer are parked in front of the market. The notation on the back of the photo reads "Acorn Plaza Coop Supermarket is open." [This is the first reference in this series of photos that mention the name "Coop." The cooperative movement, founded by the Finnish community and modeled after England's Rochedale (?) program, was a vital part of the Berkeley landscape for 50 or so years from the late 1930's to late 1980's before it folded. In that time period it was a pioneer in unit pricing, child care in the four(?) markets it operated, deregulating milk pricing, a Credit Union branch, and community services such as a pharmacy, a bookstore, and an insurance agency. The Acorn Super was one of the offshoots of the Berkeley supermarkets, and it was an example of the Coop's outreach program. When it and the Coop itself failed in the late 1980's, it was because of the cost of the outreach programs, competition from large chain stores which undercut Coop's pricing, its inablility to continue to pay union wages in addition to providing those outreach services, and finally, declining cash flow. When the Coop fell, thousands of Berkeley residents mourned its passing, and they also remember it fondly. JM 12/06/2000]

Used: Oakland Tribune

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