We are exploring expansion in order to better serve our owners, grow our cooperative, stay in front of the competition, and make progress toward achieving our vision and mission. The Co-op has grown to the point where the logistical limitations of our current facilities inhibit our ability to stay competitive in the local grocery market, and present numerous challenges and inefficiencies for staff (i.e. insufficient breakroom, storage, prep areas, and workstations). A new, larger store built to meet our needs will help ensure the Co-op is better positioned to achieve our mission to cultivate a thriving local food economy, and a vibrant, inclusive community. A larger store also provides our shoppers an expanded selection of high-quality, local, and organic foods to choose from.

The property is part of a new commercial subdivision currently being developed just south of the intersection of South Pacific Highway and Garfield Street.

Yes, the new location will be easily accessible from both Center Drive and South Pacific Highway via a new street built in the subdivision. It will be easier than ever to visit your favorite food co-op!

This tentative timeline depends on numerous factors and is subject to change:

• Summer/Fall 2025 → due diligence inspection and begin store planning

• Fall/Winter 2025 → close on the property purchase, present new store plan to owners, plan capital campaign

• Winter 2025/Spring 2026 → run capital campaign and finalize financial package

• Fall 2026/Spring 2027 → break ground for construction

As of August 2025, the sellers have requested an extension on the purchase agreement. Due to unforeseen delays in the construction of utility services to the new subdivision, the closing date has been pushed to December 2025. We will continue to update this page as new information becomes available.

We have been working with National Co+op Grocers (NCG) Store Development since 2018. They provide business development services for food co-ops working on expansion and relocation projects.

Locally, we have received legal counsel from Jarvis Glatte Bunick, LLP. We are working with Green Top Planning, Development, and Research for land use and development research and assessment. We are working with ORW Architecture on preliminary designs.

We need your financial support to make a new and improved Medford Food Co-op a reality! As part of the expansion process, we’ll be launching a fundraising campaign in the near future. The fundraising campaign will offer owners the opportunity to invest in preferred shares. Preferred shares help us achieve our funding needs for a new store, and they present owners with a unique investment opportunity.

Regardless of whether or not owners choose to invest in preferred shares, each owner will need to keep their existing voting share to maintain their owner benefits and voting rights. We’ll need your continued support to sustain the momentum needed to complete the expansion project – so keep shopping at the Co-op and visiting the Café for delicious prepared meals! Thank you for your past and future contributions to our cooperative.

As we move forward with expansion, community input will be crucial in guiding various aspects of the design process. We’ll be seeking your feedback in order to design a store that best reflects the needs of our owners and the Rogue Valley community. An expansion survey will be offered this fall - stay tuned!

Your continued patronage of the Co-op and Café throughout the expansion project and in the new store will help ensure we stay on track for growth and a bright future! If you have the financial capacity, consider investing in the future of our cooperative. Information about preferred shares will be available soon. If you would like to be contacted about preferred shares, please let us know at board@medfordfood.coop.

We have been working on finding a way to expand for years. It has been a long process. Since 2018, the Board has considered more than 10 different sites. For 7 of these sites, we conducted market sales analysis to better understand the sales potential of the site. Three of the sites warranted additional financial feasibility analysis. The on-site expansion project we considered in 2023, before the current proposal, proceeded to the point of getting city approval for the project before we decided against it for financial reasons. Along the way, MFC has shared what information we can with owners, but have been careful to not talk about potential sites before we get to the point that they are considered a viable option.

Of the 10+ sites the Board has considered since 2018, all have been ruled out for a variety of reasons. Many sites did not work out due to size (way too large or too small/same size), financial reasons (cost to build/remodel too high or sales forecast too low), and/or logistics (did not meet zoning requirements or unable to receive freight from semi-trucks). Below is a brief overview of some of the sites the Board has seriously considered, along with some of the reasons the sites were not considered feasible for MFC’s future expansion:

Former Walgreens on Barnett Rd: This location has a smaller parking lot than our current location, and an inadequate loading dock area to receive daily truck deliveries. The busy intersection makes ingress and egress just as difficult as our current location.

SOS Pear Building on Stewart Ave: When we looked at this location, part of this building was in use and the owner wanted to maintain that use, so MFC would only have access to about two-thirds of the building. The building would have required extensive work to meet our needs and was too expensive to remodel.

Former RCC Building C on S Front St: An existing public bond meant that RCC could only sell the building to a non-profit organization. Additionally, the building would have required extensive remodeling to make it work for a grocery store and lacked adequate space for truck deliveries. Most of the parking available for customers was in pay-per-use public lots, and no staff parking was available on-site.

Former TJ Maxx on Biddle Rd: This space was too large for our needs. Additionally, the location at the back of the large strip mall had low visibility from the road.

Former Toys R Us on Biddle Rd (now Market of Choice): This space was too large for our needs. At the time this building was available, we were looking for a building to lease and this was only for sale.

Stewart Meadows on Garfield St: This location required a new building that was too large for our needs. It also required too much investment money for a building that we would not own.

Current Location on Riverside Ave: The Board, with support of management, decided that this particular project was not financially feasible. Construction costs, increased interest rates on commercial loans, future lease terms, as well as the limited ability to operate during the construction period all contributed to the decision to step away from this proposal.

This is the best expansion opportunity the Board has considered, and the only feasible option to date.

We’re expanding to better meet the needs of our community and that means more variety and increased selections for our shoppers.

The increased sales volume from a larger store translates to more savings we can pass on to our shoppers.

Yes, once construction of a new store is complete, our current location will close. We will communicate in advance so you can prepare for the closure and plan for opening day at the new store!

The Café and seating area will move into the new building as well.

We do not own our current property, so the future of the trees is up to the landlord.

The new location is currently a vacant lot, but we do plan to add landscaping.

As we move forward with expansion, shopper input will be crucial in guiding various aspects of the design process. We’ll be seeking your feedback in order to create a better shopping experience. An expansion survey will be offered this fall - stay tuned!

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency:

Electric and magnetic fields, also known as electromagnetic fields (EMF), consist of waves of electric and magnetic energy moving together. These energy fields surround us all the time. The World Health Organization classifies extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans based on limited evidence showing an association with childhood leukemia. However, scientific studies have not consistently shown whether exposure to any source of EMF increases cancer risk. Scientists continue to conduct research on the possible health effects of exposure to EMFs in order to improve health risk assessments and protection programs.

The waves from power lines and electrical devices have a much lower frequency than other types of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), such as microwaves, radio waves or gamma rays. EMR associated with power lines is a type of low frequency non-ionizing radiation. Electric fields are produced by electric charges, and magnetic fields are produced by the flow of electrical current through wires or electrical devices. Because of this, low frequency EMR is found in close proximity to electrical sources such as power lines. As current moves through a power line, it creates a magnetic field called an electromagnetic field. The strength of the EMF is proportional to the amount of electrical current passing through the power line and decreases as you move farther away. Because of this property, the exposure to an electromagnetic field you would receive from a power line decreases with distance.

If you are concerned about possible health risks from electric and magnetic fields, you can:

• Increase the distance between yourself and the source. The greater the distance between you and the source of EMF, the lower your exposure.

• Limit the time spent around the source. The less time you spend near EMF, the lower your exposure.

As per the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences:

It is important to remember that the strength of a magnetic field decreases dramatically with increasing distance from the source. This means that the strength of the field reaching a house or structure will be significantly weaker than it was at its point of origin.

For example, a magnetic field measuring 57.5 milligauss immediately beside a 230 kilovolt transmission line measures just 7.1 milligauss at a distance of 100 feet, and 1.8 milligauss at a distance of 200 feet, according to the World Health Organization.

The new property is over 200 feet from the electrical substation.

Based on cell tower maps, we have considerably more cell phone towers near our current location than we will in the new location.