OUR MARKET
ABOUT US
At Mountain Avenue Market, aka The Fort Collins Food Co-op, members and non members are all Welcome to Shop at the Co-op! We have all the departments you’d expect in a grocery store but with a focus on the best-sourced products, sustainability and small businesses.
The Food Co-op, founded by CSU students in the early '70s, is a full-service, member-owned market in the heart of downtown Fort Collins. We promote healthy, sustainable, and local food choices while supporting our food economy and community. Additionally, we offer bulk purchasing to help save money and reduce waste.
Our Co-op offers a wide array of local, organic, and natural products, featuring hundreds of items sourced from Colorado. We also partner with a wide array of Northern Colorado vendors and famers to collaborate and boost our small businesses’ economy, as well as bring you the highest quality and freshest products made by your neighbors. You might even find yourself next to one of those folks whose products we carry while in the store!
In store you can find our Grab & Go Deli packed with health meal and snack choices, all created in house. The Deli focuses on providing an alternative to mass produced, big corporation meal offerings in Downtown Fort Collins. Whenever possible, our soups, sandwiches and salads are made with produce and products you will from nearby providers such as FoCo farms and bakeries. We prioritize fresh and organic. And emphasize vegan and vegetarian offerings. That being said, we also offer a wide range of rotating omnivore options, too!
We also specialize in an expansive, zero-waste bulk section with over 200 unique items, including manycommon household staples like olive oil and honey as well as hard-to-find goods. We also have an expansive loose tea and herb selection for bulk filling. Bring in your own container to fill and refill or chose from a variety on contentious “donations” consisting of sanitized vessels we provide in store, free for the taking. Save money AND the planet!
Our History
Our Start
The Food Co-op was started in the early 1972 by a group of CSU students who wanted to bring healthy, affordable, local food to Northern Colorado. The original concept was as a buying club, where members purchased whole cases together to save money. Before too long a storefront was acquired and bulk foods were put out in a “scoop-your-own” fashion. All members helped in the operation of the store as a component of membership.
Today
Fast forward over fifty years and the Food Co-op is still a vital part of the Fort Collins natural and local food system. A few things have changed. We now maintain a full-service grocery store with a focus on our extensive bulk sections, fresh produce from neighborhood farms, Northern Colorado crafters and vendors, and grassfed natural meats. We are now open seven days a week with a full staff and no longer require our shoppers to volunteer in the store but always welcome their engagement!
But there are some enduring (and endearing!) qualities of the Co-op that we’re pleased to say have not yet changed. We are still Fort Collins ONLY member-owned cooperative grocery store! We still exist to promote healthy, sustainable food choices and support our local economy. We offer bulk purchasing to help our shoppers save money and the environment. We are here to serve our owners and community through providing vetted products and wonderful customer service. Because we’re owned by our members and not a corporation, we are able to quickly and directly affect positive change in our community.
