Bloomingfoods

 HISTORY 

The Bloomingfoods business started thanks to a $30,000 loan from local resident Kathy Canada. She was the heiress to the Eli Lilly fortune. By the way, Peoples Park on Kirkwood was also started thanks to Kathy Canada donating the land for it. In 1976, Bloomingfoods opened on Kirkwood in a building that used to be a carriage house before the invention of the automobile. 150 local residents contributed to building the store. Bloomingfoods was started as a co-op, which means that it is owned by its members and not a single person. They wanted to start a grocery store that focused on helping the community and meeting local needs. About 15 years later in 1990, they outgrew their original Kirkwood location. Bloomingfoods did this because of greater demand for local food, and running out of space in other locations. Soon after this, they opened Bloomingfoods East. 

That brings us to the building you’re standing in front of. It was built in 1920 and was originally Bloomington Garage. The area around the building had lots of automobile industry. The decades went by until Encore Cafe bought the building, who owned it for 10 years before Bloomingfoods bought it from them in 2001.  That same year, they also worked with the Buskirk Chumley to sell food at the theater in a spot called the Theater Cafe. 

Bloomingfoods ran Encore Cafe for six years until deciding to convert it into a grocery store.  They officially opened as a grocery store on 6th Street in 2007 after spending six months remodeling. In 2013, they opened two more branches that were at Ivy Tech and Elm Heights, though these would both close a few years later. By the 45th year of being open they had 13,000 members.

Overall, this building and business has lots of history and hopefully will continue helping the Bloomington community. 

ROLE IN THE COMMUNiTY

Bloomingfoods is a local grocery store that is a co-op, meaning it is owned by its members. They put an emphasis on community and local needs, and their mission is to promote local food production. For example, Bloomingfoods partners with 160 local farmers and vendors. They partner with Slaughter Orchard and Cidery for their apple cider. Their meat comes from Fischer Farms, Dewig, Celtic Glen, Red Frazier Bison, and others. Their jams and jellies come from Fish Lake Organic Berry Patches, and their cheeses from Tulip Tree Creamery. This is just a small sample of the ways they collaborate with local producers. 

Not only do they promote local food production, but something that they do to help local nonprofit organizations is their Positive Change Program. To raise money, they round up to the nearest dollar on all purchases. With this change, they have raised over $1 million since 2016 for these local charities. They also help with food access to low income residents. From 2024-2025 they doubled the worth of SNAP dollars at the store, thanks to a grant from the Indiana Department of Health. 

They also contribute to the community in other ways. They host Earthfest to promote sustainability and healthy food practices. This annual multi-day event celebrates Earth Day and Fair Trade Day. It does environmental education activities, shows documentary screenings with the Buskirk Chumley Theater, and has pop-up shops from local vendors. 

Aside from Earthfest, they also have hosted classes at the Monroe County Public Library, such as Summer Meal Planning & Dietary Guidelines Review and Nutritional Grocery Shopping (for kids). These classes, called Nutrition Made Easy, were free and meant to teach all about healthy eating. Finally, to promote small local artists Bloomingfoods shows their artwork and places it for sale at Gallery B, a space inside the store.