![VEGIE DELIGHTS: Bathurst Wholefood Co Op staff Wendy Inwood and Cathie Hale [manager] with volunteer Rob Berry. Photo: SAM BOLT 011719sbwhole1](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/xry9xtRQu9u36zRV2j5976/b805956b-169f-4f89-afad-a30e16537243.JPG/r0_0_4608_3072_w576_h298_fmax.webp "VEGIE DELIGHTS: Bathurst Wholefood Co Op staff Wendy Inwood and Cathie Hale [manager] with volunteer Rob Berry. Photo: SAM BOLT 011719sbwhole1")
As Bathurst gears up to welcome another business specialising in organic produce, an existing wholefood business is welcoming the competition.
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The Bathurst Wholefood Co-Op has been servicing the Bathurst community for seven years, and continues to enjoy a firm community pull.
“Community building is what we are all about,” Bathurst Wholefood Co-Op manager Cathie Hale said.
“We support local producers and suppliers in the area, and run a market two Saturdays a month for producers to showcase their goods.”
The Wholefood Co-Op markets have become a prominent fixture in Bathurst’s Macquarie Plaza for a number of years, and regularly attract an average of 20 stallholders to each market.
In addition, the markets help promote live music and foster tight-knit relationships among a variety of different people.
“We have a very strong volunteer base at the Co-Op, with around 60 people regularly devoting their time to help us out,” Ms Hale said.
“Some of our volunteers are school kids, some require special needs, and others are new to town and simply want to meet people.”
Along with their vibrant group of volunteers, the Bathurst Wholefood Co-Op enjoys an affluent membership base of around 500 people.
“All these people have bought into the Co-Op, and as a result, they each own a piece of our business,” Ms Hale said.
“The money isn’t going into one person’s pocket, it’s going into hundreds of people’s pockets.”
With the Bathurst Wholefood Co-Op continuing to enjoy a loyal community following, Ms Hale is looking ahead to newer opportunities in 2019.
“We’re currently looking around for newer premises, because while we’ve enjoyed having such a central location within the CBD, we feel we’ve outgrown the space,” she said.
“We can’t just go anywhere, because we need to have an open space in order to host the markets.”
“There’s also a plan to move into online shopping, and we’re looking to introduce home deliveries.”
“We are all about diversity, inclusion and encouraging people to come and be a part of what we are doing.”
The Wholefood Co-Op markets will be on today at Macquarie Plaza from 9am.
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Sam Bolt
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
"I'm not in the business of telling people what to do. I'm much more in the business of describing things, situations and stuff like that and leaving them out there, and you can make up your minds about them." -Nick Cave
