How One Colorado Town is Taking Control of their Economy

by Jasmine Tilley

Walsh—a tiny town on the southeast corner of Colorado made up of about 700 people—was recently featured in an NPR series entitled “Take me to your Leader.” Included in this segment is the story of how the town’s company-owned grocery store became a co-op owned by the community itself.

About two years ago, the company that owned the store closed down and moved out of Walsh, which would have forced the town residents to drive a half-hour out of town to buy groceries. So some of the residents got together, formed a co-op, and sold $50 shares to people of the community—successfully reopening the grocery store.
One major benefit of the locally-owned store is that it fuels the town’s economy rather than the nearby cities, bringing in more than a million dollars for the town in its first year.
http://www.cfra.org/blog/2008/09/10/part-1-local-grocery-storehttp://www...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93959692