About Us
Buffalo Mountain Market is a cooperative grocery store owned by its members. We are a one-stop shopping experience where you can visit with your neighbors and feel a sense of community.
Our produce department is a well-sourced array of the freshest vegetables and fruits available with a focus on local food. Our meat department has a broad selection from your local professional butcher. Our groceries are curated to provide gourmet, organic, and affordable choices. Our wellness department offers supplements, vitamins, and beauty products to keep you healthy. Our home goods and gifts provide the essentials for your environment. Our bulk items include herbs, spices, grains, seeds, flour, beans, freshly ground nut butter, oils, maple syrup, and soaps. Our dairy cooler provides affordable and organic options and cheese, milk, and yogurt from local farms. Check out our prepared foods for a quick bite or a ready-made meal.
Mission Statement
The purpose of the Buffalo Mountain Food Cooperative is to develop within its area of influence a community-owned and operated, health-oriented, thriving enterprise;
- To continually educate the community as a whole in regard to food politics, health issues, and our social-cultural activities;
- To demonstrate alternative approaches to structuring our work environment so that it is more decent and compassionate;
- To offer healthy, pro-active choices and
- To open our doors to, and develop all aspects of our community.
Our Values and Goals
- To integrate and support local, sustainable enterprises, in particular small-scale organic farming
- To promote fair business practices, starting at the Co-op
- To have an inviting, expanding, educational atmosphere that promotes community and cultural interaction
- To provide healthy food choices at sustainable prices, and to be vigilant and informed as to the economic and political impact of those choices
- To be a leader in promoting health education in all venues available to us: personal, political, and global
- To welcome all people without cultural, economic, racial, or moral bias
- To view ourselves as not only selling food but offering health, not only developing our store but the whole community.
History
In 1975, a young couple bought a small grocery store on Wolcott Street in Hardwick, lived upstairs, gathered with other visionary folks, and started the Buffalo Mountain Food Co-op downstairs. That November, the co-op opened. Buffalo Mountain was taken from the large buffalo-shaped mountain just south of town, representing the connection to this local region. Since then, many people have generously given their time, effort, and money to help the co-op grow, thrive, and fully serve our community. We have moved four times since the co-op started. Our most recent move was in 2022, when we moved to our current location at 75 Mill St from 39 S Main St.
The building we purchased was a grocery store that operated for many years as Hall’s Market and then as Hardwick Village Market. We worked hard to preserve and integrate both stores’ staff, products, and communities in the new location to become Buffalo Mountain Market.
What is a Cooperative?
Co-operatives bring people together in a democratic and equal way. Whether the members are the customers, employees, users or residents, co-operatives are democratically managed by the ‘one member, one vote’ rule. Members share equal voting rights regardless of the amount of capital they put into the enterprise. They allow people to take control of their economic future and, because they are not owned by shareholders, the economic and social benefits of their activity stay in the communities where they are established.
Co-operative economic development, characterized by the search for means of production and efficient exchanges based on co-operation, is there to improve people’s lives and look after the environment. This is far from or being a marginal phenomenon; one in every six people on the planet are co-operators.
– FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATIVE ALLIANCE
