Karma Co-Op may be forced to close by June

The Annex’s 40-year-old Karma Co-Op will likely close its doors this June unless it can procure at least 100 new members and $21,000 in additional monthly revenue. The member-owned and operated non-profit food shop, it seems, never quite recovered from expenses incurred during a renovation in 2008. Manager Talia McGuire told The Toronto Star that only about 60 per cent of the co-op’s 1,000 members are regular shoppers, and that group simply isn’t buying enough. It also can’t help that Fiesta Farms, which caters to the same organic locavore  market (without membership fees or volunteering duties), is only a short walk away. In an email to residents, the co-op announced that it will begin closing on Mondays (it employs nine paid staff members), raising prices on bulk items and produce and offering a new month-long trial period to entice prospective members. [Reddit]