SF's Rainbow Grocery: a counterculture success story

Since we're talking Rainbow Grocery as a stop on a hippie food tour of our fair city, here's a link to Jonathan Kauffman's piece marking Rainbow's 40th anniversary this month.

"...The store just paid off its mortgage and invested $3.1 million in massive renovations.

Not that the store’s 243 owner-workers believe that present-day success guarantees future stability. The grocery faces competition from Whole Foods with its deep pockets. And it must attract a generation of new San Franciscans unfamiliar with the collective ethos, and too tied to their laptops to shop for dinner.

Yet the counterculture values that gave rise to Rainbow aren’t holding it back. In fact, the store’s antihierarchical structure may give the collective the competitive edge it will need to survive..."

S.F.’s Rainbow Grocery: a counterculture success story

The Noe Valley Community Store is gone. So are Seeds of Life, Ma Revolution, Red Star Cheese, Uprisings Bakery and dozens more Bay Area food collectives...

www.sfchronicle.com