Lakewinds In Your Words

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We’re approaching the end of 2025 and with it, the end of our 50th anniversary celebration. This past year, we’ve:

  • Shared several “deli vault” recipes on our website.
  • Given away samples of honey, maple syrup, coffee, and more from cherished local partners.
  • Hosted our biggest Annual Owner Meeting ever.
  • Installed a 50th anniversary fiber art piece at our Minnetonka store. This was woven by owners during the meeting and put together by local artist Gail Katz-James.

As we celebrate our past, we’d also like to take a little more time to hear from the community that continues to support us. 

On staff, stores, and employees

One thing we’ve learned in 50 years is that our co-op owners are very loyal. Here’s what some of them had to say about the Lakewinds experience:

“I just love buying all the organic vegetables, they’re so much healthier and you can taste it, as soon as you take the first bite. It’s just so different than going to a local grocery store and buying whatever’s on the shelf. It’s nice to know there’s an oasis like this – that’s what I would call it, an oasis.” – Diane, longtime owner

Sometimes, owners love the co-op so much they end up working here! That was the case with Sarah S., wellness associate at the Chanhassen store: “My family became members in 1996. And we were shopping at the Minnetonka location, and that was wonderful. We just, right from the get-go we just loved the fact that Lakewinds was all about organic and sustainable and local. And walking into the store was invigorating and inspiring.” 

Here’s what some other staff had to say about the co-op:

“I think customer service is a dying breed and I can’t say enough about how happy it makes people when you greet them and get to know them at our store here at Lakewinds.” – Dave P., manager on duty at Minnetonka

Dave P. appreciates the extra mile his coworkers go for shoppers.

“I always said this is not just a job but to me it is more like a family. It was my first job when I came to U.S., it’s like a family, I see it like a huge house with siblings and relatives. I feel very valued here and I feel connected with my peers. There is definitely room for everybody to grow and develop if they choose that.” – Selma L., manager of the Richfield store

On community engagement

Lakewinds is invested in seeing our communities thrive. We believe that growing food is more than just about calories. In the words of Princess Titus, co-founder of North Minneapolis-based youth nonprofit Appetite for Change, “Teaching young people how to grow food from the seed, them planting their seed and eating that food, you wouldn’t believe it, but it changes their internal environment, which changes the way that they look at the world around them. Instead of feeling like everything is a problem, their resiliency grows. The solutions come from within those young people when they’ve eaten food that they’ve grown – and then they become the change they want to see.” 

The community garden at Appetite for Change receives plant starts and seeds from Lakewinds every year.

The co-op supports organizations like Appetite for Change in various ways, including donating seeds and plant starts to community gardens. AFC has also been a recipient of our monthly Community Giving Round Up program, where shoppers round up their bill at checkout, with 100 percent of those funds going to local nonprofits focused on food access, sustainable farming, and strengthening our local food system.

For many owners, that extra option to support the community is what makes Lakewinds special. Former board member Tim R., who manages the community farm at Gale Woods Farm, had this to say about the program: “Not only is Lakewinds a great place to shop because of the amazing products it carries and because of the amazing people that work there and the quality of the stores and the experience, but because of that extra step that as a cooperative, it commits to reinvesting in the community and supporting the whole local food system that we’re a part of.”

We couldn’t agree more!

On support for small farmers

Our love for small-scale, local farmers extends well beyond the produce and meat departments! Every day, our shoppers support the local food system whenever they purchase local beef, apples, dairy, pork, grains, potatoes, eggs and more! Lakewinds also offers small farmers grant money in the form of the Lakewinds Organic Field Fund (LOFF). Previous LOFF recipient Meg S. shared how the grant impacted her dairy farm:

“I think that these LOFF grants just are tremendous, not only in investing in farmers that need a little boost for trying or testing a new practice, or because they are at the beginning of their careers and really looking to develop what they’re doing. But it’s also, apart from the money which is very helpful, it just is so affirming to get the email or the call that says ‘We think you are worthy of funding, we want to support you and what you are doing, you are important to us.’ So that intangible I have to say is, well maybe it’s not as valuable as the money part of it is, but don’t underestimate the power of that affirmation.” 

Meg has been a LOFF recipient and also served on the LOFF selection committee.

It wasn’t just the farmers who felt the love from LOFF: “Calling people to let them know they got the grant was one of my favorite things to do. Lots of tears, lots of joy lot of gratitude, it warms your heart to know that the impact was that substantial,” said former general manager Dale W.

On Lakewinds memories

We’d be remiss if we didn’t talk to some of the folks who’ve been with us the longest! Michel S., scanner at the Minnetonka store, has worked at the co-op for more than 25 years. She likens her experience to family: “It’s been a journey. I love watching the younger people kind of mature. I sound like a mom now, don’t I? No, but that that’s true – to see your coworkers grow in their professional growth and how they mature and get more passionate about it … it’s fun. The co-op ends up being parts of people’s lives. We have care for community, and we provide community for people, too.”

Lakewinds circa 2000, around the time when some of our longest-serving employees first started.

We also interviewed Launa T., who recently retired after over two decades with Lakewinds! She revealed what stands out most over her career: “I’ve learned a lot [from] customers as well as employees, everyone on both sides of the register. There wasn’t a whole lot of days when I didn’t want to work, because I knew there was something waiting for me. In the early days, it was just standing in the aisles getting recipes from members. Or some member would yell over the shelving when it was shorter, ‘How do I cook this?’ Or, ‘Who knows what you do with …’ you know? And people would just share that. They would teach each other, these strangers. I still feel that way now, even though the shelves are taller so you can’t yell over them.”

Continuing the Tradition

We love to hear the support from our community because they’re at the heart of what we do here at Lakewinds. Without the shoppers, staff, nonprofit partners, and the local farmers who grow food for us, there would be no Lakewinds. At the close of our 50th Anniversary, all we can say is: Here’s to 50 more!

Love hearing about Lakewinds’ history? Learn more about our commitment to local food, or hear co-op memories from an owner who was there in the early days.