Less than a week before Salt Lake City’s only community-owned grocery store was set to open its doors, the Wasatch Food Co-op was a hive of activity.

Inside the carefully renovated building at 416 E. 900 South, part of the Milk Block development in the Liberty Wells neighborhood, employees on Thursday were busy putting the finishing touches on a grocery store that has been almost 20 years in the making.

One employee organized health remedies and busily assembled shelves, while others shepherded a delivery to the back of the store. Still more worked together to unpack a flood of boxes in the section that will eventually display eggs and dairy.

Around the perimeter of the space, white signs with bold black letters hung on the doors to the mostly empty refrigerated cases, giving a preview of the products — like cold juices, kefir, ice cream and frozen fruit — that will be inside by the time the store opens Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Many price tags hadn’t been put up yet, and the signs marking the store’s different sections were yet to be painted.

But even though the co-op was unfinished as of Thursday, it still had the appearance of a bona fide grocery store. The aisles of pantry staples like pasta, olives and tea were just about full, registers up front appeared ready to go, and local sign painter Shley Kinser‘s colorful mural of a garden was painted on one wall.

Interim general manager Garland McQueen gave a Salt Lake Tribune reporter a tour of the store, pointing out its many amenities.

In addition to the shelves of dry goods, produce section and refrigerated sections you’d find in a typical grocery store, the Wasatch Food Co-op will also include a grab-and-go case and fresh coffee — “Nothing fancy, but it’s going to be good coffee,” McQueen said.

There’s also a pastry case, a station to make fresh peanut butter and almond butter, a bulk section, and a selection of “fun stuff,” at the front, like greeting cards, mushroom-shaped candles and colorful string shopping bags.

The bulk section has more than 100 items, said operations manager Cameron Silva, including spices, herbs, eight types of rice, balsamic vinegar, honey, maple syrup and much more. Shoppers are welcome to bring their own containers to fill, or buy one at the co-op.

Shoppers can buy “as much or as little as you want” from the bulk section, McQueen said.

The product selection skews toward sustainable and organic. McQueen said the co-op’s goal is to source roughly 20% of its selection from local suppliers, and Silva said the store has about 80 confirmed as of Thursday, with more joining the co-op every day.

Danielle Fisher, secretary of the co-op’s board of directors, said that while 20% may not sound like a high amount of local products, corporate-owned grocery stores usually carry much less.

Silva said there’s a form at Wasatch.coop that business owners can fill out if they want to become a supplier for the co-op, and customers can also fill out a form to request specific items.

“We want the co-op in the community, but we want the community in the co-op,” McQueen said.

One feature that will be coming this summer is the Kahlert Cafe, named for the Kahlert Foundation, which provided “the transformative gift in making the co-op possible,” Fisher said.

In a statement, Heather Kahlert, the foundation’s executive vice president, said, “We are proud to support the Wasatch Food Co-op and excited to be part of the beginning of its story.”

The cafe will feature a seating area with tables and chairs and a counter along the front of the co-op, where customers can sit and enjoy their lunch or a cup of coffee and a pastry. The plan is also to put tables outside.

Kinser will paint a mural on the wall of exposed brick in the cafe area, with the Kahlert name.

The co-op won’t have prepared foods made in-house for a while, but the team hopes to grow into that, McQueen said.

And once the co-op establishes its nonprofit arm, the team hopes to also hold cooking classes, demonstrations and other programming, Fisher said.

If you didn’t join the co-op while it was being built, you can still do so. McQueen said benefits to joining include receiving an annual dividend (depending on the store’s success), member specials in the store, discounts and more, plus having a voice as a voting member of the co-op.

“In this day and age, there’s so much that feels out of our control in terms of economy and how we purchase things and who profits from it,” Fisher said. “But a co-op is a really unique model where the customers and member-owners have a say in how the business is run.”

Opening day festivities

On Wednesday, the Wasatch Food Co-op will open to the public. Before the store’s doors open at 10 a.m., there’s going to be a grand-opening ceremony with a pre-opening hangout from 9 to 9:15 a.m., followed by remarks from Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, co-op leadership and the board of directors, as well as a Native blessing.

There’s also going to be live music, raffles, free coffee and tea, and free samples, as well as vendors out on the sidewalk selling directly to shoppers. And, of course, people will be able to shop at the co-op as much as they want.

“It’ll be a happening place,” McQueen said. “You need to be here.”