You've got home, you've got work. It's one of those third places where you come and meet. Food's a basic need. I kept coming back, and I still come back because it is our community. I see folks.

I see almost everyone I know at the co-op, whereas at Shaw's and Hannaford's, I see a much wider community who don't greet me, and I greet them in a friendly way, but it's not the same.

You might go in there for two items, but you might be there for 25 minutes talking with somebody. That's definitely you. Especially me. But I love going in there, even if I'm only getting a few items, because it's the social fabric that still reigns supreme. You know, you're going to run into people. It's a small town, so you're going to run into people you know at any supermarket. But the sense that you can have stopping and catching up with people is not duplicating anyplace else.

It seems to me that the social interaction is a critical part of who the co-op is and how the co-op can continue to be central to the community. That's potentially the church service for Sunday replaced by your Tuesday, Thursday shopping experience.

It's I need a fix. I'm just going in there, you know, at least two or three times a week or maybe more. If I need a fix, I can go in there and find somebody to talk to and somebody who I know. Like, I feel like it's really different here.

One thing I definitely think a lot about is the whole third place sentiment. And like, for me, that's definitely the co-op. Because even though, you know, it's not my home, it's not really my work, it's just a place that I go to and feel welcome. I'm probably going to run into someone I know. I don't have a ton of time just to go see friends or like go to the library or go to these other places that I might go to. But by literally just going in there to shop or pick something up quickly, I can kind of get that similar feeling.

I can't walk through that store. Any time of day I go, I'm going to know somebody there. If I go there, I know I'm not just going there to buy food. I'm going to have a conversation. And that's so needed now where we don't have these third places anymore. So the co-op has emerged as a third place where, like, you know you're going to see somebody you know that you're going to have a conversation with. And you're probably going to know the people checking you out or you're going to know the person behind the cheese counter.

I had some friends visit from D.C. and they flipped out about the co-op. Now when I visit them, they still ask, like, how's the greatest grocery store on earth doing? I don't know, it's kind of jokey, but like I can remember so many times where Nathan would come home and be like, oh, it took me so long to go shopping today because there were so many people that wanted to say hi to him at the co-op or that he like had a conversation with. You know, we'll joke sometimes about how if you're just trying to get in and out, it's impossible. But I think what's underneath that is that it is a social hub. It is a place where you see people. There are like people I think of as members of my community that I actually only see at the co-op.