Your Memories & Stories

“Stirring the peanut butter! Somehow, the task of stirring the separated oil into the huge 5 gallon buckets of natural peanut butter regularly fell on my volunteer shift during the early to mid-80s. It was hard to do! I liked cutting up the giant slabs of cheese much better. :-)”
~Lauren Bryant

“I moved back to Bloomington in August of 1976 and immediately joined the "new"coop. I was a working member on the "Cheese collective" We cut and packaged cheese on Friday nights. There was a wonderful sense of community in our group. It was a social event as well as working for the coop. When the second store opened on 3rd street and there were financial troubles I bought several memberships for friends in an attempt to support the second store. I later became a board member. I have always loved the coop and thehoptions it provides for shopping in our community.My thanks to all those are keeping it going. Congrats on 50 years!”
~Annamaria Mecca

“I discovered the co-op as an IU student. Wandered in one day from the alley and the smells just felt familiar yet wasn’t sure exactly what they were. Still feel that way sometimes when I enter the stores today. I would get a huge homemade cookie which filled me up and cost next to nothing. Which is how much money I had back then as a college student paying my way through school! Simple yet good memory. Hadn’t really thought I’d stay in Bloomington. Took awhile to join the co-op. 50 years later, still here!”
~Ellen Post

“When I first signed up to be an owner-member, that first month I checked out the website and saw that they were doing this 60-second shopping spree giveaway. I thought "there's no shot this'll work, but why not", and somehow ended up winning it? It felt like such an exciting little treat to celebrate my first month as a member, and all the staff were super lovely to get to meet during the event. What a crazy 60 seconds! Since then, I've been making Bloomingfoods a regular part of my routine after work, to the point where several of the folks there know me as the guy-with-the-headset, which is always very funny. Shoutout to the downtown location's hot bar for many, many evenings worth of absolutely bangin' mac and cheese!”
~Mik Breeze

“I came to Bloomington as a grad student in 1984 and quickly stumbled upon Bloomingfoods. Not only was it better food than I was able to find elsewhere, but it was close to campus. I soon learned that I could get a discount by volunteering each week. I really enjoyed working in the Kirkwood store. The building was quirky and every space, even those stairs, had character. The most memorable volunteer shifts involved working in the walk-in cooler. I can still hear the clank of the handle as you opened the door from the outside or inside.

I was in awe of the committed full-time employees and felt lucky to be a part of it. I came and went for a few years graduation, but we settled in Bloomington in 1995. We still see many of those early faces around town and we proudly give our three-digit member number at Bloomingfoods multiple times a week. BFoods is a treasured memory and a treasured part of the community today.”
~Bob Flynn

“I arrived at IU Bloomington in the latter 1970's and became aware of this interesting store, in the alley behind Kirkwood. I learned more about it from a couple of house mates who shopped there, but it was a while before I ventured in. I loved it! The concept, the offerings, the smells, the atmosphere. I left Bloomington for a year, then my husband and I returned in 1981. One of the first things I did was become a "working member." At that time, there was little in the way of prepackaged items, and I remember large bins of dry goods on the second floor - some very large. I also remember helping to unload a truck and carrying bags of flour and other dry goods up the stairs. Every item had 3 prices on it (working membership, paying membership, walk-ins.) And I remember that customers would weigh their own items and put the prices on them, too! But there were some things that working members packaged, weighed, and priced. I remember that, for a short time, they experimented heating with a wood stove. Something I haven't seen mentioned yet is Sunflour Bakery, which was on the first floor. I think it was there a short time, but they had very good bread and other things. There was a typewritten and xeroxed newsletter put out by the co-op that would include a recipe, sometimes one from Sunflour Bakery. There was a particularly good one for peanut butter cookies that I've lost over the years - if anyone has that, please share it! Bloomingfoods helped me learn so much about natural foods and sent me in a healthy direction. I miss that Kirkwood location, but we do shop at the current locations when we visit Bloomington.”
~Terri Talarek

“I want to wish all the people, past and present, who grew and now continue to foster Bloomingfoods, happy birthday! I became a member back in the 90s and going to Bloomingfoods always put a smile on my face. Even though I moved away to the mountains out west in 1999 I still enjoy the e-newsletter. Happy birthday!”
~Todd Barnell

Check out Owner Members Ned Shaw’s The Origin Story of Bloomingfoods and Tracy Rosen’s The Origin Story of Bloomingfoods articles on our blog!