Carrot Common in Toronto inspiration for Neechi Common in Winnipeg

Carrot Common home to The Big Carrot health food store on Danforth Avenue in Toronto is celebrating its 25 th. anniversary.  In 1987, I was assisted The Big Carrot to find a new larger location for their popular store. I introduced Mary Lou Morgan of the Big Carrot to David Walsh who I had met at a CED workshop some years earlier. It gave birth to Carrot Common, a two building two story complex with 21,000 sq. ft. retail store space and 10,000 sq.ft of office space for health care professionals. The Big Carrot is the anchor store in the Common and  has expanded over the past 25 years to take on an even larger presence.

The Carrot Common complex has been an inspiration to various organizations over the years including Neechi Foods Co-op Ltd. in Winnipeg who are about to open Neechi Common on Main St in Winnipeg’s North End later this summer. The 50,000 sq.ft complex will be home to community businesses promoting healthy foods and lifestyles.

Both Neechi Foods and The Big Carrot are worker co-operatives where the workers are the owners of the enterprise. Both are social enterprises with an environmental consciousness providing healthy food and lifestyles as well as employment for their workers.