CLINTON, N.Y. — When Tom’s Natural Foods closed in 2021, the village of Clinton wasn’t just left without a beloved store. It lost a hub where people would gather not just to purchase local vegetables, meats, and more, but also to say hi to a friend. Now, through a literal cooperative effort, the village has […]
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CLINTON, N.Y. — When Tom’s Natural Foods closed in 2021, the village of Clinton wasn’t just left without a beloved store. It lost a hub where people would gather not just to purchase local vegetables, meats, and more, but also to say hi to a friend.
Now, through a literal cooperative effort, the village has such a place again with the opening of Tom’s Natural Foods Co-op.
“Tom’s really was a community institution,” says Jim Frederick, one of the co-op’s board members. It was a place where people felt at home, and the community really stepped up to support opening a co-op, he adds.
The co-op effort began about a month before the original Tom’s, which was under new ownership, closed in April 2021. However, the group wasn’t organized enough to start operations before the store closed. So, the group took its time to craft by-laws, build its membership, and line up financing to open a co-op. Naming it after Tom’s just felt right, he says.
The co-op first opened in December 2024, starting with just Saturdays. Located at 3 Fountain St., the store has about 900 square feet of retail space. Now, the store is open four days a week (Wednesday through Saturday) staffed by volunteers. The co-op offers local, minimally processed, and responsibly packaged foods including spices, herbs, flour, meat, dairy, vegetables, eggs, dried fruits, nuts, coffee, chocolates, and more.
“We wanted to be local,” Frederick says. “We wanted to be fresh. We wanted to be bulk. We wanted to be minimally processed or packaged.”
The spices, in particular, have been a bit hit, Frederick says. In homage to the original store, the co-op has tried to recreate the same type of spice display and offerings with bulk containers that allow people to take as much or as little of whatever spice they choose.
Shoppers can bring in their own bags, bottles, or jars to fill with items, whether they are spices or other offerings such as flour, oats, or rice. In fact, the co-op encourages people to bring reusable containers to help eliminate waste.
The process has been a learning one, Frederick notes, but the co-op is getting up to speed. “None of us has experience in retail grocery,” he says. “We’re just feeling our way.” That includes everything from what to stock to how to display it. Overall, Frederick says the co-op board is pleased with the selection the co-op has to offer.
He is also happy with the progress the co-op has made toward its goals, the first of which was to rebuild that sense of community the original Tom’s store provided. “I think we’ve been fairly successful in doing that,” Frederick says.
The co-op has also been successful in supporting local producers. It sources chicken and cheese from Jones Family Farm and eggs from Oliver’s Organic Eggs, both in Herkimer County, and beef from Blue Sky Ranch in Waterville.
Finally, the co-op is working to have an impact on the nutrition and dietary needs of the community by providing those fresh, local foods.
“It was important to me to make those things available to the community,” Frederick, a retired doctor, says.
The co-op is open Wednesday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Thursday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.