Co-ops settling in on Albert Street

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/09/2011 (5314 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE creation of new service offerings to cater to the modest increase in residents in the Exchange District can be a risky business.

But that kind of enterprise will have to happen before the area works as a functioning neighbourhood and not just a National Historical Site.

A long-standing neighbourhood business known more for its anarchist roots in alternative economics than pure market exploitation is one of the local businesses that have stepped up.

A couple of years ago Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse expanded and built a small grocery and convenience store. Sandra Drosdowech, one of the founders of Mondragon, a worker co-op with about 12 members, said new condo developments in the area were definitely one of the reasons Mondragon renovated and expanded its vegan eatery to include fresh produce and groceries.

She said they are now thinking about taking online orders and doing deliveries with a vehicle one of their members has that runs on vegetable oil.

And there’s plenty more going at that worker co-op hotbed at 91 Albert Street. Mondragon and six other worker co-ops in the building are looking to secure their presence as a fixture in the neighbourhood by buying the three-storey, 11,000-square-foot building.

Brian Timmerman, executive director of the Exchange District BIZ, said the worker co-ops at 91 Albert St. add to the cultural diversity of the neighbourhood that people expect in a historic urban neighbourhood like the Exchange.

The group has formed a collective called 91 Albert St. Autonomous Zone Marketing Co-op to put the deal together. It has been raising money for about two years for a down payment through draws, fundraising concerts and flea markets. They’ve been running a donation drive that’s reaching out to the small, tight-knit worker co-op networks around the world.

Sarah Fox, who has been helping co-ordinate fundraising for the building, said they need about $4,000 more to meet their goal.

But they are getting down to the wire. Next week they are meeting with bankers to negotiate a mortgage for the $550,000 building.

The current owner, Paul Burrows, who is working on a PhD in history at the University of Saskatchewan, was one of the founders of Mondragon and originally bought the building to be a space for just this purpose. Burrows could not be reached, but members of the collective say he’s making the building available to the group at significantly below market rates.

The seven worker co-ops and five small business that operate there provide livelihoods for about 50 people.

For instance, Doug Grant of Natural Cycle Courier said the bicycle courier co-op has six members and four “apprentices” who are expected to become members.

Jamie Campbell of ParIT — an alternative economy information-technology co-op — is a former member of the Mondragon co-op before he branched out in the building to set up an IT operation. He said more than a year ago they reviewed the rents everyone was paying and they realized they were not sustainable if they were to buy the building and take on a mortgage.

“We had to raise the rents and some of us pay more than others based on the ability to pay,” Campbell said.

The durability and longevity of the enterprises at 91 Albert Street are not so surprising.

Terri Proulx, an official with the Community & Co-operative Development Branch of the province’s Housing and Community Development Department, said worker co-ops have a much higher success rate of lasting more than 10 years than most businesses. Manitoba now is the home to about 30 worker co-ops, more than anywhere else in the country except Quebec where it has long been a viable business option.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

91 Albert St. Autonomous Zone Marketing Co-op Members:

Mondragon Bookstore & Coffeehouse

Natural Cycle Worker Co-op Limited

Natural Cycle Courier

ParIT Worker Collective

Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre

Urban Eatin’ Gardeners Worker Co-op

War on Music