Keep your Cooperative Competitive: Start a Business

Although living in a cooperative should be the cheapest housing option, it does not always work out to be so in reality.

Some expenses (like a mortgage, payments to a landlord, or debt from major renovations) outweigh the savings that you gain from collective purchasing power. So, how do you make your cooperative less expensive? Start a business! It may sound crazy, but read on, friend. I have a success story.

In 2008, Kalamazoo Collective Housing started an apparel company called Grassroots Goods. Grassroots Goods produces organic cotton shirts (manufactured in the United States) with several attractive designs (printed in Kalamazoo, Michigan). The shirts are sold in bulk to retailers around the state, who have had a great deal of success selling our niche product….

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