A grocery store is like a carnival midway—it offers shelves and shelves of goodies that only become available after lobbing baseballs at stacks of bottles. Today's Groupon brings the fresh food without the carnie cons: for $7, you get $15 worth of locally grown produce, groceries, and more at Main Market Co-op, located in downtown Spokane. This Groupon is not valid for the purchase of alcohol.

Main Market Co-op brings together a variety of locally sourced food, offering grocery shoppers a place to purchase fresh, hormone-free goods from an eco-conscious collective. Stock your shelves with any number of groceries, including rich Craven's Coffee, Small Planet Organic Tofu, or fruity Hot Lips Soda. Produce pickers can browse through the chemical-free fruits and vegetables, reveling in ripe apples, peaches, apricots, and potatoes. Pick up organically produced dairy from Amaltheia Dairy and fair-trade candy from Theo Chocolate, or treat your Mensa-level astrophysicist canine to an all-natural product from Castor & Pollux Pet Works. With dozens of regional suppliers at your disposal, you can have enough locally produced ingredients to make breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, and brinner. Main Market also features a deli with made-to-order sandwiches ($7.49 with kettle chips), a fresh heaping of salads ($4.99–$6.99), and piping-hot cups ($3.95) or bowls ($4.95) of soup.

Main Market Co-op is committed to reducing its carbon footprint, giving equal respect to producers and consumers, and providing information about healthy foods. Feel free to take a behind-the-scenes tour, held every other Thursday afternoon, to see the Co-op's heat recirculation techniques, rooftop garden, and trash-talking shrubbery.

Reviews

The Pacific Northwest Inlander named Main Market Co-op the best new business opened in 2009–2010. Down To Earth also featured Main Market Co-op. Five Yelpers gave the co-op an average of four stars, and it boasts more than 550 Facebook fans.

• With the on-site deli, fresh food is available for takeout. There are even meat lockers available for a nominal monthly rent so those who want to purchase meat in bulk can have a place to store it. – Cheryl-Anne Millsap, Down To Earth
• Relatively reasonable prices for organic and natural produce, canned, boxed, and bulk items. They also have a great selection, especially for Spokane. They have my favorite sheep's milk Gouda for half what I payed [sic] for it elsewhere. – Michael B., Yelp