Pedestrians passed it every day during the summer—a gaping hole in the Elmwood Avenue strip. A dusty construction site replaced a brick building where a film festival was held each summer. Construction was being done on the new building for the Lexington Co-op, temporarily turning 807 Elmwood into a scaffold filled, tarp covered gravel pit.

On July 27, the unofficial opening day, the Lexington Real Foods Co-op opened its shiny automatic doors and began a new era. The store’s wide aisles were flooded with customers. Mothers with giant strollers rolled down the aisles, groups of friends lingered to gaze at the merchandise, and employees busily stocked, cleaned, and cashed. “The procedures were remarkably smooth,” said co-op general manager Tim Bartlett. The unofficial opening’s purpose was to “smooth things out” for the grand opening on September 8 when customers were expected to crowd the store.

The Lexington Co-Operative organic food store has been an available alternative to corporate grocery stores for Buffalonians since 1971. The co-op has thrived greatly in Buffalo’s community of vegetarians, vegans, and organic food shoppers.  Many have long favored the friendly environment, selection, and politics of the Lexington Co-op, and membership has been steadily increasing since the store’s inception in 1971.

Not only does the co-op promote healthful eating habits, it also promotes Buffalo financially, as 40 cents of each dollar spent at the co-op returns to the Buffalo-Niagara economy, according to the co-op’s website. For example, homegrown produce sold at the co-op promotes local farmers and Buffalo businesses such as Le Metro sell products at the co-op. The co-op also hires locals and provides employee benefits that include banking and health insurance.

Co-op membership costs $80 per household, and more than 2,700 households have joined.  Members receive a two percent discount on purchases, with the opportunity to increase the discount up to 19 percent by working at the store. Members are also integral to the procedures of the co-op, as there are comment and suggestion boards, newsletters, and member appreciation days. They also receive votes on the Board of Directors, which was vital in the move and expansion from the old co-op to the new.

Many customers at the new store were loyal co-op members, while some were new; many of the long time members grew disoriented at both the high volume of people and products and the new organization of the store. “There is definitely a lot more variety of everything and just more stuff in general,” said 20-year-old co-op member, employee, and Elmwood resident Kyla Kegler.

“Sales were phenomenal, and residents were excited to have a nice grocery store in the neighborhood. Tons of people can just walk to the store,” said Bartlett. Many members, employees and customers were pleased to see that the more obvious location drew in more customers. Old and new customers alike were enamored with the deli section of sandwiches and salads, with a prepared food section at $6.95 a pound and the unparalleled choices of organic food. “It’s great that I can just go and get lunch from the store,” said Bartlett.

The expansion in choices ranges from frozen foods to fresh fish. “I think that with the new selection we are able to cater to a much larger crowd; the prepared foods bring in a totally new group of people that would not have necessarily shopped there before,” said Kegler. Elmwood-ites previously shopped at convenience stores and ate out at restaurants, but the newly expanded Lexington Co-op provides a healthier alternative to both of these previous options. University at Buffalo student and Elmwood resident Vince Grace frequents the Lexington Co-op and is satisfied with its selection. “It seems cleaner and better organized than the old co-op and the selection is bigger,” he said.

Some customers and employees find fault not with the service, selection, or location of the co-op but with the architecture, style, and aesthetics of the new building in which the store is housed.

“I was surprised that the co-op moved because it seemed well established and the location had a lot of character,” said Grace. “I thought the new co-op looked like an upscale organic food chain; it looks like other co-ops I’ve seen in Burlington, Vermont,” he added. While generally supportive of the move and expansion, Kegler said she missed the old building on Lexington: “It just feels so much more like a Wholefoods now to me than a co-op.”

In fact, the architectural firm TRM Architect designed and built the new Elmwood location. This firm also designs stores for Tops and Wilson Farms, whose appearance and practices seem to oppose the standards and goals of the co-operative store. The generic brick building is similar to the outer structure of these common supermarkets, while signs, beige paint and murals adorn the walls of the inside. “I really miss the old creaky floorboards and that character that I suppose only comes with lots of time and age,” said Kegler, who also expressed the need for more art to “soften” the space.

Furthermore, an old historic and metropolitan building was leveled to make way for the suburban design of the new co-op and a parking lot. This caused controversy not only within in the membership of the co-op, but also within the Elmwood community, which strives to protect such buildings.

The feel of the newly designed co-op differs from that of the old, perhaps because of the choice in architecture and decoration, yet the organization and the store remains widely welcomed and is busier and more popular than the former “crunchier” co-op.

“They still sell granola,” said Grace.