With your continued support, we can help over 300 local farm families and food producers flourish by opening the first co-op in DuPage County and make delicious, healthy, sustainable foods accessible to all. Prairie Food Co-op will be your convenient one-stop-shop for fresh, local and organic produce, dairy and meats, fair-trade and conventional foods, bulk items, wine & beer, and grab & go prepared foods.

$4.5M Secured. Only $500K Needed To Open Our Doors.

We are at a critical point in our journey to open Prairie Food Co-op. Of the $5 million needed to launch our store, we’ve successfully secured nearly all of it—except for the final $500,000 of the $1 million loan required to complete our funding.

Since signing our lease, we’ve been transparent that opening the store hinges on securing $1 million in bank loans. Despite our strong financials and relentless efforts, we were only able to secure $500,000—not the full amount we originally planned for. Now, the remaining $500,000 must come from our community.

We’ve worked extensively with multiple banks and cooperative-focused lenders, but due to the unique structure of our co-op, we’ve hit a roadblock. Many banks either don’t lend to co-ops or focus on rural or underserved areas. The good news: our lenders are still willing to move forward—but only if we, as a co-op community, step up and raise the remaining $500,000 ourselves.

The math tells us that if a handful of Owners contribute $1,000 or more, we will reach our goal and open our doors.

Our experience tells us that some Owners just can’t spare that much, so if you can do more, please consider buying up to $8,000 in Preferred Shares or making an Owner Loan of $10,000 to $100,000 or even more.

If you need to contribute less, please know that every dollar helps and we would be thrilled and honored by any level of participation - we are in this together!

Please join us at one of our kickoff events on-site:

Sunday, February 23, from 2:00–3:30 PM

Monday, March 3, from 6:00–7:30 PM 

This is our moment. Together, we can make it happen.

Progress Report

Our entirely volunteer-led team has done an extraordinary job to reach these exciting milestones:

✓ 2000+ residents invested $200 to become Founding Owners

✓ Construction complete for 837 South Westmore-Myers Road in Eastgate Mall - a premier site, nestled between Ace Hardware and the Lombard DMV. 

✓ $4.5M million raised (out of $5M needed, much of this amount from our Owners!)

✍ $500K bank loans contingent on us, as a co-op community, raising the remaining $500,000 ourselves.

✍ GM Search

✍ Collaborating with local vendors to bring fresh, sustainable, and local goods to our shelves.