Founded in the early 1960s, Mariposa began as a pre-order buying club. In 1971 we absorbed several other buying clubs and acquired our current storefront. The building was purchased in 1983. Today the co-op operates as a store where members can purchase off-the-shelf, though it is still possible to order most items in bulk to improve savings or get hard-to-find products.

Nearly all the co-op grocery stores in the United States today operate largely with paid staff, and are open to shopping by non-members as well as members, with members receiving discounts or dividends based on patronage. Many have further distinctions among members (working and non-working members, for example), with some members receiving deeper discounts or other benefits. Most of these are full-size supermarkets. In the the entire country, only two cooperative grocery stores currently in full operation require membership to shop, require all members to work, and depend largely on member labor rather than paid staff: Mariposa Food Co-op and Park Slope Food Co-op in New York.

Over the years, members of Mariposa have considered the idea of creating categories of membership, such as “working” and “non-working”. Some members have been concerned that any two-tiered membership structure would reinforce class divisions in our society. Our members have chosen to maintain the requirement that all members share equally in the funding and in the work of the co-op.

Mariposa is not just another business: our members who shop here (rather than individual entrepreneurs or outside investors) govern the co-op. Our structures grow out of our members’ values of participation, community, and democratic control. We are intentionally different from the way competitive, for-profit businesses (and many traditional nonprofit organizations) operate. These fundamental differences are visible throughout Mariposa’s structure and functions.