About Us
Welcome to the Co-op–a place for great food, interesting people, and exceptional service. “I have found my new favorite grocery store!” you’ll cry with exuberant wonder when you discover our top-quality meats and seafood, amazing local produce, and specialty foods you won’t find anywhere else. Need florist-quality flowers? We gotchu. Basic staple groceries that won’t break the bank? Check. Weekly and daily deals? Aplenty. Top-tier ingredients to prepare a special meal for a houseful of visiting family members? Absolutely. (Did these people fall from the sky? You don’t even know half of them.)
It’s True. We’re Old.
We’re one of America’s first food co-ops. We aren’t owned by one guy with his own private space program—we’re owned by you! Started as a small buying club in the winter of 1936, we’re now one of the largest food co-ops in the country, born out of the idea that “profit for the few” is boring and “maple syrup for the many” is a much better business model.
Local Before Local Was Cool
We believe that food tastes better when you know where it comes from—and even better when you know the people who grew it. We aren’t a big-box chain driven by distant shareholders in expensive suits. We are a member-owned cooperative with more than 400 local suppliers. Our “bosses” are our neighbors, our friends, and the local farmers stocking our shelves—heck, maybe even you!
Our History
It’s not easy to distill 90 years of history into a few paragraphs, but let’s give it a go:
> 1936: 17 neighbors in Hanover, NH, and Norwich, VT, pool their resources to form the Hanover Consumers Club. They order things like maple syrup and cases of citrus.
> 1937: The Hanover Co-op is a thing—a sticky, delicious uprising that proves you can fight the Man with quality syrup and a really good grapefruit.
> 1940s–1950s: The little co-op graduates from a basement to a storefront downtown. We introduce the area’s first self-service grocery model, trusting people to pick their own onions without professional supervision.
> 1963: The Hanover Co-op moves to its current location on Park Street. The charm of the little storefront is exchanged for better parking.
> 1980s: We figure that if we can source kale, we can fix a radiator. Our auto service center is born. Members can now get an oil change and organic tomatoes from the same business.
> 1997–2000s: Growth spurt! We add two more food stores, a community market, and another auto service center. (The brave little market eventually closes from a lack of foot traffic. *sniff*)
> Today: 33,000+ members, 400+ local vendors, 3 food stores, 2 auto service centers, nearly $100M in yearly sales. (A staggering amount of local produce and granola if you stop to think about it.)