For more than a decade, a group of Detroiters worked toward something the city was lacking. In a city that’s nearly 80% Black, there were almost no Black-owned grocery stores. So they set out to build one — owned by the people it serves.

In 2024, the Detroit People’s Food Co-op opened on Woodward in the North End.

Two years later, it’s asking for help. The co-op says it’s bringing in close to $3 million a year. Before it opened, it projected about $80,000 a week — more than $4 million. This month it launched a campaign to recruit 500 new owners and asked shoppers to spend $10 more every time they come in.

They named it Mframadan, a symbol from Ghana for a house built to withstand treacherous conditions.

Those conditions are real — food prices keep climbing and the people this store was built for are the ones with the least to spare. U.S. Census Bureau data shows 34% of Detroiters live in poverty.

The co-op’s thought was that Detroiters should own their food system, not just shop within it. Two years in, the question is whether that’s something people can afford to own.

Lanay Gilbert-Williams, president of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op and executive director of the Detroit Food Policy Council, joined Robyn Vincent to talk about why prices are what they are, who’s actually shopping there, and what happens to the store — and to its owners’ money — if this campaign doesn’t work.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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