More than a place to shop

"We're like family," Mary Bay, wife of Co-op board president Duane Bay, Sr., says of the Co-op employees and members. Some Co-op employees have never worked anywhere else.

The Co-op stores used to provide on-site child care while parents shopped, and the store would special order items for members with special dietary needs.

Selling the last of the Co-op's may be inevitable because of economics, but that won't make closing the doors for the last time April 7 any easier.

Two Co-op employees hard at work.
Photo: Don Feria

About 450 Co-op members jammed a meeting in late 193 to talk about growing financial problems. They persuaded the Co-op board not to sell the Sunnyvale market.
Photo: Palo Alto Times archives

A Co-op employee helps a shopper.
Photo: Don Feria

Two women look over meat counter selections.
Photo: Don Feria