At the co-op, local is at the heart of what we do.
We define “local” as food and products grown, produced, or processed within a five-state area that includes Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. We know our local farmers and locally-owned businesses personally – we visit their kitchens and farms and love seeing exactly where our food comes from and how it’s grown, raised, and made. When you choose local, not only does it taste better (thanks to shorter travel distances!) but more of your food dollars stay in our local community.
Red Lake Nation Fishery
Redby, MN
Red Lake Nation Fishery is owned and operated by the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe. The walley is wild caught by tribal fishermen, who use the wisdom from their elders to harvest in a sustainable manner. Red Lake Nation Fishery has provided freshwater walleye to America since 1919. The business started during the First World War, when they offered a supply to American Troops.
Redhead Creamery
Brooten, MN
Woman-owned and -operated, Redhead Creamery has been making artisan, farmstead cheese since 2013. Named after co-owner Alise Sjostrom, the creamery is a childhood dream come to fruition on her family’s dairy farm. The term farmstead is indicative of cheese made directly on the farm where fresh milk is collected, allowing the creamery the unique ability to adjust the milks’ fat and protein levels to impact the final cheeses’ rich textures and flavors.
Rochdale Farms
Western WI
Rochdale Farms, the creation of Mary Bess Michaletz and Bentley Lein, is locally and cooperatively owned. It was created with the intention to foster the growth of small local dairy producers and create delicious, artisan cheeses, hand rolled butters, and cream-top yogurts. Rochdale sells all of their creative dairy products exclusively to Midwestern natural food cooperatives. Most of the milk they use comes from a network of over 325 small Amish family farms spread across Wisconsin and Minnesota. These family-run farms take an extraordinary amount of care to treat their animals and land with care.
Rush Creek Growers
Spring Valley, WI
Rush Creek Growers provides creative, practical, and delightful plant starts and herbs for your edible garden. They grow a wide variety of edible plants using innovative, ethical, and environmentally-friendly practices. This includes the use of compost tea, beneficial insects and fungi for disease and pest control, compostable pots, rainwater reuse, and more. At our annual spring Plant Sale, you’ll typically find their locally grown basil, lavender, mint, oregano, rosemary, scented geraniums, Patchouli, and more.
Saint Paul Bagelry
St. Paul, MN
Saint Paul Bagelry has been baking some of the most sought-after New York-style bagels in the Twin Cities for decades. This woman-owned, family-run business bakes over 4,000 bagels from scratch every day, which are delivered fresh daily to Mississippi Market. Their bagels, including Plain, Poppy Seed, Sesame, Everything, Cinnamon Raisin, and more, are all-natural and made without preservatives of any kind. You’ll also find several tubs of their delectable cream cheeses on our shelves.
Salad Girl Organic Dressing
Mahtomedi, MN
Salad Girl was the first certified organic, fresh dressing on refrigerated shelves in Minnesota. The name was inspired by a summer job that co-founder Pam had as a teenager, working as the “salad girl” at a local restaurant and making fresh, scratch-made dressings. For 15 years, Salad Girl has been creating flavorful, organic dressings free of dairy, gluten, preservatives, cane sugar, soy and corn syrup.
Sartori Cheese
Plymouth, WI
Started in 1939, Sartori Cheese is a fourth-generation family-owned and operated farm. For over 75 years, they’ve offered some of the best tasting, award-winning cheese on the local market. The Sartori family share a deep sense of connection to the land, including a strong farm-to-fork ethos. Many of the family farmers they partner with to obtain milk for making cheese have had long-standing, multi-generational relationships with the Sartori family.
Shiro’s African Boutique
Minneapolis, MN
Shiro’s African Boutique is owned and operated by Mary Kuria. Shiro’s Jewelry is handmade by independent artists in Kenya and features recycled, traditional materials such as coconut shells, beadwork, various woods, bones, banana fiber and horn. Shiro’s always uses hypoallergenic earring loops made of recycled metals.
Sunleaf Naturals
Waconia, MN
Teresa Andrys spent her career developing products for national companies. She witnessed incredible waste, misleading labels, and vast amounts of synthetics, petrochemicals and fillers going into our environment and our bodies. In 2007, Teresa created Sunleaf Naturals, a fresh line of truly natural products. Sunleaf is a locally owned company dedicated to making fresh, plant-based products for home use. They donate 5% of profits to water conservation efforts and pollinator research and formulate their products to be 100% biodegradable, using only recyclable and compostable packaging.
Tempeh Tantrum
Minneapolis, MN
Tempeh Tantrum hand makes fresh East Javanese-style tempeh in small batches. They start with local organic soybeans, culture them, and follow a custom fermentation process that transforms soybeans and black beans into firm, savory cakes that can be cooked in a variety of ways. Tempeh Tantrum currently makes two types of tempeh, including soy tempeh and soy-free black bean tempeh, which go great in sandwiches, salads, stir fries, sauces, and more.