The call was answered on Saturday, Oct. 10, at Detroit People’s Food Co-op.
BLK GRL Conglomerate founder Torie Anderson-Lloyd urged metro Detroiters to visit the cooperative, Black-led grocery store on the city's north end, after it disclosed recent financial setbacks. Shoppers responded, filling the store throughout the day.
Among them was Watanna Lowry, 55, who drove from Clinton Township after seeing Anderson-Lloyd’s social media post.
“I didn’t know anything about this place until I saw it on Facebook,” Lowry said. “They wanted 100 Black women to come here and support. I saw that, and I got my best friends and we came to support.”
Financial struggles
BLK GRL Conglomerate is a Detroit nonprofit that supports the wellness, literacy and economic empowerment of Black
girls and women through community programming and entrepreneurship initiatives.
Founder Anderson-Lloyd, who is also an English teacher at Renaissance High School, said she organized the effort after seeing the co-op post about financial struggles.
"Sometimes organizing can simply be putting out a community call. One thing that the city of Detroit has taught me in my 41 years of living here is that we take care of each other," Anderson-Lloyd said. "One thing we're gonna do is we're gonna take care of each other. And this, for me, is just proof of that."
The Detroit People’s Food Co-op, which opened in 2024, is a community-owned grocery store featuring products from local vendors and freshly prepared foods, with about 5,000 member-owners helping guide its future.
This summer, the store experienced equipment failures, power outages and lost business during extreme weather events, said Detroit People’s Food Co-op General Manager Aaron Orr.
“In July, this whole wall of coolers went down, and that’s tens of thousands of dollars worth of product,” Orr said. “Over the course of the summer, we lost collectively about two weeks of business. As a new business, that hurts. Bad.”
Orr said the co-op turned to the community that helped create it.
“We knew the power of our community, so we don’t hide anything from our community because they’re the ones who built us, literally,” he said. “It wasn’t so much an SOS as it was just a call to action.”
“This is what it’s looked like ever since we put out the call to action,” he said, gesturing to the steady stream of shoppers. “What we’re trying to do is sustain this momentum.”
'More than a grocery store'
Detroiter Diane France, 63, said she also responded immediately after seeing the online call.
“I know that Black women are revolutionary. We always have been. We always will be,” France said. “And so when I saw the call, I did not hesitate to show up.”
For France, the store's appeal goes beyond the products on the shelves.
“I want to go somewhere where the food is fresh,” she said. “It’s a good vibe, and I feel welcome.”
Detroit People’s Food Co-op continues encouraging residents to shop locally and become member-owners. Membership requires a one-time $200 investment and gives members voting rights on major decisions affecting the store’s future.
“We’re only here for the community, literally, because they wanted us to be here,” Orr said. “So we are in cooperation with this community to improve it in every way. It’s more than a grocery store.”
Nour Rahal is a trending and breaking news reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Email her at nrahal@freep.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit People's Food Co-op draws support after financial setbacks
