You can’t have a co-op without cooperation! Our friends from Weavers Way Coop stopped by today to help us set up.
Thank you so much to the staff at Weavers Way!

Getting by with a little help from our friends at Weavers Way! From left to right: Brittany (Weavers Way), Rebecca (Mariposa), Norman (Weavers Way)	Is anyone else thirsty? Our new beverage section.
Some of our canned goods...	Aerial Shot of New Store

Running one store location while preparing to open another is no easy feat, but we have the best working members in the world helping us out!

Rebecca and Member help set up shelving for cereal!	More shelves with more member participation!
Our much-anticipated refrigeration unit is here! Store opening can't be far behind!	Our new fruit and veggie stations!

Our new space is looking more like a real grocery store everyday! Check out our two newest additions!

Carts with our name on them!

Our new display of bulk home care products from Sun and Earth

All of our new signs are up, courtesy of Fourth River Signworks!

... and it's in!

Mariposa’s 1,200 member joined yesterday! Our total membership is now at 1,203!

1200 members!

We just keep growing!

Our new exterior up close.

We’ve had so many exciting changes to our interior, it’s nice to see that our exterior is catching up. Behold, two of our three new exterior signs. The logo was created by member and graphic designer Cecily Anderson of Anagram Studio.

Mariposa Food Co-op is thrilled to receive support for our expansion from the Philadelphia Federal Credit Union. This morning representatives of both organizations met to celebrate the gift. The $5,000 donation from PFCU will be used to support Mariposa’s Revolving Equity Fund. More information about the program can be found here: www.mariposa.coop/fund.

We are grateful to have received support from our credit union for this project. We look forward to a continued and mutually beneficial partnership.

(p.s. Did you know PFCU is member-owned like us? You can join another neighborhood co-op by banking at PFCU www.pfcu.com)

(From left to right: Chakka Reeves (Mariposa Marketing and Outreach Coordinator), Leah Pillsbury (Mariposa Capital Campaign Coordinator), Dennis McBride and Bernard Lester (PFCU Board Members), Ivana Dussell (PFCU West Philadelphia Branch Manager), and Dan Ohlemiller (Mariposa Financial Manager)

In November 2006 Mariposa made a big purchase: the “walk-in” refrigerator. Our first piece of new refrigeration equipment ever. Yesterday staff and members moved it to its new home!

That’s right, we loved our walk-in so much we thought we should take it with us to the new store. It now sits in the back yard of the new co-op.  It’s one of the only major pieces of equipment we’re keeping and it will be used for overflow cold storage. Meanwhile, a new walk-in three times the size of the old one is installed inside the new building, along with over five times the amount of refrigeration and freezer space in the retail area.

Thanks to member helpers who moved the walk-in (in 25 degree weather!)

Walk-in at the old store	taking it apart
Almost assembled at the new store	Move complete!

Today we officially began preparing for the big move from our current store to the new store! Employee lockers were scrubbed down, shelving and furniture was assembled, shopping carts were prepped, and some bulk items began arriving! Members: if you’re interested in helping with the move, sign up next time you’re in the store or by calling 215-729-2121.

New tea and spice cabinet from Frontier	Mariposa member Vlad assembling furniture
The future member services desk	One of the new cashier stations
Mariposa member Miriam cleans the new employee lockers	removing an old Master lock with an angle grinder!
removing old store handles from shopping carts	Shinara sorts new tea and spice shipments
new baskets!	latest view from above

Our new building at 4824 Baltimore Avenue extends all the way back to 49th street. We have a loading zone there already and will receive all deliveries through the back of the store.

The “lift-gate” is a platform that will lift deliveries into the new store. There is a roll door (like on the back of a truck) to open and close when deliveries come. All deliveries will come directly into the receiving room. Check out these photos that chronicle the work over the past few weeks at the back of the store.

receiving room during demolition

from the outside before converted to lift-gate

prepping installation

installed!

shot from inside (closed)

shot from inside (open)