New Leaf Market has been serving the central Tallahassee community since 1974. Since 1989, the store had been operating from its current location, offering a range of fresh and locally sourced foods. The grocery store’s growth prompted it to expand to a second location in 2016.
However, it struggled to take off; the co-op was located in a suburban strip mall that was less ideally suited for a specialty natural foods store, and also faced increased competition from Whole Foods and other higher-end markets. During this time, the co-op also began to experience turnover in its management.
After attempts to restructure the debt, other lenders foreclosed in late 2019, throwing the future of the whole cooperative into jeopardy. Meanwhile, New Leaf Market’s original store continued to operate and perform well but it could not generate sufficient cash flow to service the substantial debts from the failed expansion.
The cooperative was then acquired by Community Co-op Market (CCM), who then approached LEAF for financing for additional equipment, renovations and working capital to refresh the original New Leaf Market store at 1235 Apalachee Parkway. Together with Shared Capital, we provided a $300,000 loan for them in 2020, totalling $600,000. Today, Community Co-op Market continues to serve Tallahassee.
Interested in financing your coop? Co-op Market is just one of the many coops that we fund co-ops in the US, from Alaska to Florida. If you are interested in supporting our work, please consider checking out the Investors tab. If you are a member of a cooperative and are interested in financing your project, please see the Lending tab.