Future uncertain

The East Lansing Food Co-op, challenged by ever-increasing options in the healthy food market, will close its retail store soon, its board has decided.

The board will meet Jan. 8 to decide on a date, its leader, Anne Woiwode, said.

The board has already placed the building, at 4960 Northwind Drive in East Lansing, up for sale. But Woiwode said the owners must decide whether to go through with a sale. The building is listed with Realtor James Vlahakis for $675,000. However, the board has the authority on its own to close the store, which may occur as soon as the end of January.

Woiwode said that when the board meets in January, it will decide on the content of a letter to owners posing the building sale for official approval and also kicking off a conversation on what the co-op might do in the future. She did not rule out another store, but she said that’s unlikely immediately.

The co-op started as a buying club in the 1970s and incorporated in 1976. It moved into the Northwind building 35 years ago.

Tax records show that the co-op purchased the 48-year-old building in 2007 for $450,000. The current assessed value is $221,500 and the taxable value is $190,153. The taxing jurisdiction is Meridian Township.