Our Store
Harmony Natural Foods Co-op
Harmony Natural Foods Co-op strives to serve the common health of our community in Bemidji and beyond. We are a full service grocery and wellness store conveniently located in downtown Bemidji, serving the greater Headwaters region and beyond. At Harmony you’ll find the finest and freshest foods and goods available as we provide and promote affordable healthy eating options for all of our customers. Click here for more about us and our history...
Harmony Co-op celebrating our
46th anniversary in April!
From humble beginnings as a buyers’ bulk co-operative in a basement to a small downtown storefront and now a full-service grocery and health store with a thriving outreach program, Harmony has certainly come a long way. We're celebrating our owners, all of you who have chosen to make the investment in not just your local grocery store, but your community as a whole.
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Harmony Coop supports vibrant local commerce in the community with retail business to provide an outlet for local growers and producers.
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Harmony Coop strives to promote and restore healthful, sustainable and environmental practices.
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Harmony Coop provides and promotes healthy eating options in the store and deli for its customers.
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Harmony Coop provides our community with educational opportunities about the benefits of locally and organically-sourced products, cooperative principles and nutritious eating.
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Harmony Coop actively engages staff in the organization’s decision making process, and provides them with a competitive compensation package.
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As a profitable business with ever increasing membership, Harmony returns economic value to the community and grows according to community needs
Ends Statements
“We have ends statements that drive our ‘how’ and ‘why’ we grow. They are really value-orientated and are about putting value back into the local economy.”
- Colleen Bakken, Harmony Co-op General Manager
Cooperative Ownership
What makes us unique is our cooperative business model, meaning that we are a community owned, owner-driven business enterprise in which the pursuit of profit is balanced with the needs and interests of our stock investors. Even though Harmony is a community owned cooperative grocery store, you don’t have to be an owner to shop here. Everyone is welcome!
The Seven Cooperative Principles
1. Voluntary and Open Membership
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all people able to use its services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.
2. Democratic Member Control
Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members—those who buy the goods or use the services of the cooperative—who actively participate in setting policies and making decisions.
3. Members' Economic Participation
Members contribute equally to, and democratically control, the capital of the cooperative. This benefits members in proportion to the business they conduct with the cooperative rather than on the capital invested.
4. Autonomy and Independence
Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members. If the co-op enters into agreements with other organizations or raises capital from external sources, it is done so based on terms that ensure democratic control by the members and maintains the cooperative’s autonomy.
5. Education, Training and Information
Cooperatives provide education and training for members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperative. Members also inform the general public about the nature and benefits of cooperatives.
6. Cooperation among Cooperatives
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.
7. Concern for Community
While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of communities through policies and programs accepted by the members.
National Cooperative Grocers (NCG)
NCG will provide the vision, leadership and systems to catapult a virtual chain of food co-ops to a position of prominence in the natural foods industry.
NCG helps unify food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power, and ultimately offer more value to food co-op shoppers everywhere. By providing a variety of purchasing, management, development, marketing and other grocery related services, our affiliates are able to gain many of the advantages large grocery chains enjoy, while still reflecting the unique qualities of their local communities.