Author: Abigail Whittier
Short Summary
La Louve is a cooperative supermarket where customers participate in the financing and management of the supermarket.La Louve aims to be a place of sharing, exchange, and community. The supermarket provides products based on six (sometimes contradictory) categories: environmental impact, proximity, equity, taste, price, and responsibility to respond to the food needs of the neighborhood. Customers must be members, and any member can propose a product to be sold.
Cooperative La Louve
source
Profile
La Louve follows the 19th century fashion of collective decision-making when deciding on strategy and management. To become a member, an individual must purchase 10 shares at 10€ each, or 100€ total. Every member must contribute 3 hours of consecutive work once a month to the supermarket, in areas such as the cash register, stocking, receiving deliveries, cleaning, and administrative work.La Louve is completely self-run. This decreases the price of managing a market drastically, and allows the supermarket to offer artisanal, bio, and local products at a reduced price. While these make up most of the products at la Louve, traditional supermarket items and foreign products can also be found. When deciding if la Louve should keep selling a product suggested by a member, the decisive factor is the rate of sales. La Louve believes this is the most democratic tool, reflecting the real habits of all the members.