Bethlehem Co-op Market to open late 2025

Situated on the ground floor of a Broad Street apartment building is a mostly empty storefront, dotted with construction materials and stray equipment. 

The horseshoe-shaped space might not look like much yet, but with the addition of equipment, shelving and products, it will be the home of a new grocery market before the end of the year. 

Members of the Bethlehem Food Co-op have been dreaming of opening and running their own grocery store, the Bethlehem Co-op Market, for more than 10 years. After several setbacks and postponed opening dates,   members of the co-op’s board said it’s slated to become a reality by fall. 

According to its website, the Bethlehem Food Co-op was founded in 2011 with hopes of eventually debuting a physical location to serve as an alternative to traditional grocery stores. As opposed to corporate-run stores, it is led by an elected board, and member-owners have voting power on any decisions made. 

In 2019, the co-op applied for federal funding to make this possible. With support from Susan Wild, former United States Representative, and Bethlehem’s Department of Community and Economic Development, the co-op received a $2.9 million Housing and Urban Development grant, which was expected to be enough money to open a store. 

Domenic Breininger, now the market’s board chair, was the treasurer when he first joined. He said he used the finance and technology experience he gained through his career in electronics to help secure the grant. 

He joined the team as the co-op was performing a market study to select a location. After considering three sites, it selected 250 E. Broad St. for the Bethlehem Co-op Market.

Breininger said despite concerns from community members that the market will serve a more affluent customer base, the area just north of the storefront is home to a number of middle- and low-income households

“I think a lot of people, when you think of downtown Bethlehem, you think of Market (Street), you think of Main Street, but you forget there’s this whole northeastern corridor of families that we could be serving,” he said. 

Todd Mertz, the market’s board vice chair, said there are few places to purchase fresh, healthy food in Bethlehem, so the market will provide an important benefit to the community. 

“Healthy, especially organic, food is not always the cheapest thing you’ll find, and that’s unfortunate,” he said. 

Mertz also said the store will aim to provide affordable and reasonably priced products for people of all income levels, and it will also accommodate food assistance programs to serve lower-income families. 

According to the co-op’s website, SNAP and EBT will be accepted at the market, and board members plan to create a Food for All program and support alternative transportation. 

Breininger said the presence of other grocery stores was another important consideration. Since the South Side has two grocery stores — Ideal Food Basket and a CTown Supermarket — the co-op chose a location on the North Side, as the board didn’t want to compete with those businesses.

With a location secured and a lease signed, construction was supposed to begin a number of years ago. However, the COVID pandemic halted construction. 

Even though no work could be done, Breininger said the co-op had to continue paying service contracts. But when construction did begin again, supply chain and demand issues drastically increased the price of some equipment, such as refrigerators, stoves and ventilation materials, he said.

This increased cost, compounded by the time lost to halted construction, pushed back the possibility of opening the market, Breininger said. 

“It’s definitely challenging, the timing of when we took this project on and when we thought we were right at the finish line, and then the world shut down,” he said. “When the world opened up again, everything cost a lot more than it did before then.”

Domenic Breininger holds an image of the planned layout in the interior of the Bethlehem Co-op Market at 250 E. Broad Street on March 24. Equipment will soon be delivered and finishing touches completed before the store’s late summer/early fall opening. (Grace Roche/B&W Staff)

Breininger also said the cost to complete the store rose to $4 million post-pandemic, but some of the additional costs have been offset by increased efforts to recruit member-owners — individuals who invest $300 to join the organization, along with donations and re-negotiating contracts to find savings. He said there is also a fundraiser planned, with a goal of raising more than $1 million. 

Although the Housing and Urban Development grant provides $2.9 million, these funds are not immediately accessible. It’s a reimbursement-based grant, meaning the co-op would be paid back for expenses already incurred. 

Without having funds available up front, Breininger said it was difficult to complete large purchases for the market. To do so, he said, the co-op needed to take out short-term loans. 

With the loans, Breininger said the co-op has paid deposits for equipment and expects pieces to be delivered by late July. Ensuring the arrival of this equipment was one of the last steps toward opening the store, and he said much of the remaining work in the space will be cosmetic. 

Mertz said the market is also searching for a general manager to oversee day-to-day operations and hopes to find one before the store opens. 

“It would certainly be optimal to have our general manager in play and there for us when we open the store,” he said. “Do I think it’s going to stop us from opening the doors if we don’t have one? No, because the operations team we have hired are competent and doing a solid job.  But it certainly would be smoother, and it would be another check box if we have our new general manager in place as soon as possible.”

As it prepares to welcome shoppers, the co-op board is also pursuing partnerships with local farms and businesses to stock its shelves.

One of these businesses is Hippie Momma’s Apothecary, owned by longtime Bethlehem resident Sarah King. Her products include soap, body sprays and lotions, and she uses natural ingredients to make and package her goods. 

King said she quickly joined the co-op after encountering it at pop-up shops in the area. She’s since stayed in touch with members of the group, and at one point, she suggested her products would sell well at the market. 

King’s business also values local sourcing and uses natural ingredients, and she said she thought this aligned well with the co-op’s goals. 

“My products are all as natural as they can be,” she said. “I don’t use any plastic. I use aluminum, glass or wax paper bags, so, absolutely, I think Hippie Momma is going to fit right in.”

Several board members agreed with King and extended a verbal agreement to stock her merchandise. She said while she’s excited for the market to open, the delays have given her more time to prepare, especially since soap making is a time-consuming process. 

The delays have also added to King’s anticipation for the market, she said. 

The market has not announced an official opening date, but Breininger and Mertz both said they estimate it will open in late summer or early fall this year. 

“It’s taken years of what were some hard times and stress and showing that, man, we did it, we really worked through this, and we made this happen,” Breininger said. “It feels great. I’m excited about what it will mean for the community.”