‘Know Thy Food’ store in Brooklyn moving, changing name

Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 29, 2024

The “Know Thy Food” store at 3434 S.E. Milwaukie Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood announced in early September that it would not renew its lease at the end of the month – and instead, the business would move – and change its name, as well.

Starting October 1 this store is to be known as “Brooklyn Grocery Cooperative”, and it’s now next to the Brooklyn Post Office, in the space formerly occupied by “Mano Oculta”. Since the new location (at 1420 S.E. Powell Boulevard) has a full kitchen on-site, the co-op also hopes to begin serving breakfast there, as well as continuing to offer its grocery business.

“Know Thy Food” was begun in 2010, and became a certified food cooperative in January of 2016. It’s currently a member-owned cooperative, loosely chaired by Brooklyn Action Corps leaders Guy Berliner, Alex Iverson, and Brent Paes. They hope to expand the cooperative with more neighborhood volunteers, and would like to partner with organizations that promote connections between local customers and the food that they eat.

Paes told THE BEE that they are depending on volunteer help to continue providing customers with coffee, tea, smoothies, Kombucha, wine, and beer – as well as “sustainable” grocery items, which they hope will become cheaper and more accessible. “We also sell a variety of baked goods, health and wellness items, vitamins, toiletries, meat, and dairy products.”

The new version of the cooperative store will be a bit smaller than at the old site, but it plans to provide customers an online catalog where “members will have access to our full list of farmers and vendors, as well as useful input for current Brooklyn Grocery Cooperative events, according to Paes. “There will be a colorful mural atop the new site, and we will offer the use of a kitchen and meeting rooms for neighborhood gatherings, such as BAC and GBBA meetings.

“Currently we are looking for Coop members with special skills such as bookkeeping, Marketing, Engagement, Fund-raising, volunteer organizing, and digital support. We also hope our ‘open hours’ will start earlier in the morning, so as to cater to TriMet operators and passengers who are looking for breakfast items before heading on in to work.”

Meantime, the landlord of the 3434 S.E. Milwaukie Avenue property discloses plans to continue to offer a grocery destination, “in hopes that the Brooklyn neighborhood will no longer be considered a ‘food desert’, without established grocery stores.” The tentative decision is to call the new space “The Brooklyn Closet”.