Fiddleheads hits 5,000-member threshold

Nov. 17—NEW LONDON — Fiddleheads Food Co-op reached a major milestone this month when the downtown grocery store announced it had hit a self-imposed membership limit of 5,000.

Stanley Bellamy, general manager of Fiddleheads for the past year, said Wednesday that the natural food store now needs to amend its s of incorporation to allow more members to join the 16-year-old cooperative. Until that time, the public can continue to shop at the Broad Street store, where the former California Fruit once sold groceries, but the co-op cannot take the $175 fee for them to join until lawyers intervene and raise the membership cap.

Membership allows shoppers to take advantage of weekly specials and to vote for candidates running for the nine-person Fiddleheads board of directors, which operates the co-op. Members also get a 10% reduction during one stop by the store every quarter.

"When they were first established, 5,000 seemed like almost an unattainable number, " Bellamy said. "Over the past 16 years, it sort of snuck up on us."

Bellamy said the food cooperative's growth had been a steady one until COVID-19, when numbers surged as people sought another avenue for hard-to-locate staples due to supply chain issues.

"Because of who we get our product from, that's not necessarily an issue for us," Bellamy said. "We're not shipping stuff necessarily across the country, right? We're dealing with a lot of local farms and vendors."

The co-op's membership numbers have increased by nearly 2,000 since its 10th anniversary in 2018. Bellamy said he's now trying to identify inactive members who may have moved to other parts of the country and forgotten that they could cash in their membership (called an equity refund request), which would open spots for new members to join. He's unsure at this point how many members are inactive.

Bellamy also is eyeing a future expansion at Fiddleheads. The co-op recently started renting the former Kamp Dog restaurant space next door with the idea of adding perhaps a cafe or expanding its grocery offerings, though nothing has yet been decided.

Fiddleheads once considered moving to a space on the other side of the city off Howard Street, but Bellamy said he likes the current location in the heart of New London.

"This is a great spot," he said. "I'd want to stay here as long as we possibly can. ... I mean there's like a history here that feels cool."

Fiddleheads, which started out as an indoor farmers market staffed entirely by volunteers, now attracts hundreds of people every day and supports 50 employees, mostly part-timers. The co-op went through early controversy as one faction wanted the store to locate near Mystic and another preferred New London, but at this point it has emerged as the largest mostly organic grocery store in a region that currently lacks a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods market.

But all of that is about to change as a Whole Foods is expected to open at the former Benny's plaza in Old Saybrook in the next few months. Still, Bellamy is unfazed by the competition, saying, "We're not necessarily selling the same product. ... They're not going to be carrying vegetables from local farms."

Under the 40-year-old Bellamy, Fiddleheads has had one major change of direction, now starting to sell conventional, nonorganic produce, allowing a broader range of customers to enjoy items such as plantains that are difficult to find among organic growers. It's part of an outreach effort to people in New London like Bellamy, who lives five minutes away but had never set foot in the store before he was hired three years ago as an assistant front end manager.

"People do complain about our prices, and it makes sense," Bellamy said. "And that's why ... we have been trying to remove as many barriers as possible (by) bringing in more conventional items and the CT Fresh Match program," which allows customers getting SNAP food assistance to double the amount of produce they can purchase from participating farms without any increases in cost.

Bellamy said he's just building on the groundwork of the original co-op organizers and managers, trying out new ideas to see what works. One of those ideas is a harm-reduction kiosk at the front of the store that includes Narcan kits and literature to help those who are struggling with addiction.

With about 6,000 square feet of retail space, the store features local farm produce and items from local bakeries. It also has a large grab-and-go area with recipes created entirely in-house.

The store is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Although the Fiddleheads store didn't open until February 2008, the co-op dates back to around the year 2000 when several people formed a food-buying club in the Mystic area. By 2003, the group was looking for a permanent space, but couldn't locate an affordable spot in the area, leading to a major rift in the organization as one faction decided New London would be the most appropriate location.

A loan from the former Bank of Southeastern Connecticut helped the newly constituted group get off the ground, and volunteers early on held a once-a-week winter farmers market on Saturdays. Gradually, the store was able to stay open longer and provide a greater offering of food items, including the very popular dry goods area.

Product offerings now include many gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan options. But Bellamy said his goal is to try to reach a larger clientele.

"Our goal here is always to try to provide healthy food for the community, but healthy food means different things for different people," he said. "Always going to focus on natural and organic foods, but I think we do have an obligation to serve parts of the community where that might not necessarily be an option for everyone."

Bellamy also noted that Fiddleheads needs to cater to the wide variety of food tastes among the many different cultures represented by New London residents.

"Trying to make sure that we are offering things to that wide spectrum," Bellamy said. "It goes back to like authentically engaging with the community.... What is going to bring them in the door? What do they actually want to buy from us ... so we can really start to cater to a broader spectrum of the demographics of New London?"