The Famine Foods Co-op / Bluff Country Co-op Oral History Project collects the oral narratives of people associated with the member owned, cooperatively run natural foods grocery store in Winona, Minnesota. The Project was launched in 2022 by Michael William Doyle, a founding member of the Co-op and a retired History professor, in commemoration of the Co-op’s 50th anniversary year. It is endorsed by the Co-op’s board of directors and sponsored by Winona State University Library and Teaching, Learning, & Technology unit, and the Winona County Historical Society.
For an overview of the Oral History Project read Michael Doyle's project history, The Famine Foods Co-op / Bluff Country Co-op Oral History Project
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The Famine Foods Co-op / Bluff Country Co-op Oral History Project
Michael William Doyle
The Famine Foods Co-op / Bluff Country Co-op Oral History Project collects the oral narratives of people associated with the member owned, cooperatively run natural foods grocery store in Winona, Minnesota. The Project was launched in 2022 by Michael William Doyle, a founding member of the Co-op and a retired History professor, in commemoration of the Co-op’s 50th anniversary year. It is endorsed by the Co-op’s board of directors and sponsored by Winona State University and the Winona County Historical Society.
This enterprise began as a buying club in spring 1972, inspired by the example of North Country Co-op in Minneapolis, but it soon established itself as a retail operation under the name Famine Foods Co-op, which opened on October 4th of that year at 114 E. 2nd St. In 1991, the name was changed by a vote of the membership to Bluff Country Co-op. And on October 27th, 2000 the store relocated to its current location at the southwest corner of 2nd and Johnson Streets.