Honest Weight Food Co-op broke ground on their new $5.4 grocery store on Watervliet Avenue Extension today. The natural foods retail market has operated its member-owned business in the Capital Region since 1976, and will move from its current location to the new 30,000 square foot store and community space in May 2013.
Honest Weight Food Co-op is the latest grocery store to relocate to Albany's uptown. Earlier this year, ShopRite opened a new location on Central Avenue. Honest Weight Food Co-op funded the new store through a combination of sources, including $1.15 million in investments from individual owners. The store also secured $750,000 from the Albany County Business Development Corporation, the largest loan ever approved by that organization.
"Co-ops change the world," Lynne Lekakis, President of the board at Honest Weight Food Co-op. Co-ops like Honest Weight provide the community with affordable natural foods, many from local suppliers, and employ workers at a living wage. The co-op expects to hire 20-30 new employees in the new expanded facilities.
Central Avenue has become a "food destination," says Lekakis.
The new Honest Weight Food Co-op will be located at 100 Watervliet Avenue Extension in Albany.
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| Community members and government officials gathered today at the site of the new Honest Weight Food Co-op, located at 100 Watervliet Avenue Extension in Albany to celebrate the beginning of the construction on the new 30,000 square foot store. (Pictured from left to right: Sam Colman, President of the West End Neighborhood Association, Sarah Halliday, VP of M&T Bank, Carolyn McLaughlin, President of the Albany Common Council, Alexa Juhre, Project Leader, Lynne Lekakis, President of the board for the Honest Weight Food Co-op, Mayor Jerry Jennings, and New York State Senator Neil Breslin.) |
