Wheatsville Co-op, an Austin grocery staple since 1976, is embarking on plans to open several smaller-format stores in North Austin. But the store needs at least $5 million — and the community’s help — to do it.
Instead of going the traditional route through a bank, Wheatsville wants its new stores to be funded by people who shop there. They’re not asking for donations — they’re asking for investments, said Bill Bickford, Wheatsville’s general manager and employee since 1999.
“We’d much rather the dividends be paid to our community rather than interest to a bank somewhere that really just cares about money and not so much a community organization that improves the daily lives of Austinites,” Bickford said.
The new stores will fill the gap left when Wheatsville’s flagship store on Guadalupe Street closes at the end of 2026. Wheatsville said the construction from the Project Connect light rail plan, a decline in sales and aging infrastructure of the 85-year-old building led to the decision to close.
The locations for the new stores are picked out, but Bickford said he's not ready to share the exact coordinates yet.
Wheatsville is selling investor shares for $100 each with a $2,000 minimum buy-in. Bickford said it’s the only local investment opportunity in the Austin area, but the Austin Chamber of Commerce was unable to confirm that.
Bickford said for those not in a position to invest, just shopping at Wheatsville will help with the expansion.
The investment campaign is active until the end of 2025, but Bickford said the co-op needs to be close to its $5 million goal by the end of the summer if it wants to move forward on the expansion. The new stores might not pan out if the community investment strategy stalls, he said.
“I recognize that’s probably a new concept to folks and they might have a difficult time wrapping their brain around it,” Bickford said. “But it's not too dissimilar from selling preferred shares [in corporate finance], the difference is, you can visit the store you’re investing in, you can have a direct impact [on] your life, [your] supporting local brands and community nonprofits.”
This isn't the first time the co-op has used a community financing strategy. In 2013, Wheatsville's South Lamar location opened after it raised money from members, according to the Austin Chronicle. Bickford said the co-op has never failed to pay back the dividends from investment campaigns.
“It’s a relatively safe place to invest your money,” Bickford said. “Wheatsville has been around for 50 years. We want to be around for 50 more years, but it does take community investment for us to continue to grow.”
Wheatsville’s front of store manager Robert Villarreal said he’s been splitting his time between managing the store and reaching out to its 29,000 co-op members to pitch the investment opportunity.
“We’ve gotten some solid responses from owners that are just like, ‘It’s Wheatsville, of course we want you to be around for as long as possible,’” he said.
But for those who are on the fence about investing and long for ‘Old Austin,’ Villarreal has a message:
“It’s really important that we invest in local businesses,” Villarreal said. I hear a lot of folks, they see a local business close down and they’re like, ‘Oh my god I haven’t been there in forever I’m so sad to see it go’ and I feel like people need to stop living in that … and start going to these places and keep them alive.”
