The Palo Alto History Project, Palo Alto Co-op

The Palo Alto History Project

The Co-op Market
2605 Middlefield Road, 164 California Avenue

2006

The Co-Op Spirit and Lovable Willie Branch

The Palo Alto Co-op Market was founded in 1935, at a time when buying food staples in bulk wasn’t just a way to
save a few bucks, it was a way to survive. At the height of the depression, 15 original co-opters joined together
and bought a case of corn --- a group that would makeup the early foundation of what would become the Palo
Alto Co-op Market. Originally, the store was run out of the first floor of a house at 443 Bryant Street, but over
the years, the Co-Op grew and grew again, until it had expanded to six stores, including 2 in Palo Alto. The 2605
Middlefield Road location lasted until 2001, and its flagship store at 164 California Avenue was one of the west
coast’s first modern grocery stores.

The Co-Ops were as much a community as a grocery store. Members paid $35 to have a vote in the Co-op’s
management decisions and this groupthink would lead to some innovative ideas. For instance, each of the Co-op
outlets featured a “Kiddie Korral,” where a paid child-care worker would take care of the children while parents
shopped. The store often ordered special items for its members with dietary needs and volunteers delivered
groceries to close to 100 elderly and infirm customers. The Co-op also kept a "crisis fund" which it used to
provide food to needy people.

There were other touches one probably won’t find down at the local Safeway such as a model train that traveled
back and forth above the meat freezers, clerks who knew your name and the 1-cent mechanical pony rides. At its
height, the Co-op had some 28,000 member families, topped $3 million in sales, and also boasted a gas station, dry
cleaners, and pharmacy.

But the franchise never did make much of a profit. By the 1960s, it began to bleed money and by 1988 it was
hemorrhaging. One by one, the Co-op’s other branches folded and the store consolidated around its last remaining
location on Middlefield Road. By 2001, even that store was no longer sustainable and the Co-Op had to fold its
tent forever.

It was a sad day for the cooperative spirit of Palo Alto.

But if anyone suspected that the generosity and community spirit that the Co-op represented was no longer present
in modern Palo Alto, a newspaper story three years after its closing would remind readers again of the city’s
benevolence.

The story entitled “Whatever Happened to Willie Branch?” donned the front-cover of Palo Alto Weekly on January
14th, 2004. It told the upsetting story of beloved Co-op worker, Willie Branch, who had such a loyal fan base that
many shoppers used to wait in his line longer just to check out with him. Branch knew everyone’s name and
always wore a smile. But as the Weekly story related, the father of 8 and grandfather of 16 had become homeless,
unable to find work after the Co-op’s closing.

The story touched many former Co-op shoppers and the next week so many e-mails and letters poured into the
Weekly asking how to help, that the paper actually took the rather unusual step of setting up a “Willie Branch
fund.”

Some of the letters:
"I wanted to know if there is a fund or anything set up for Willie Branch. I couldn't believe it. I always stood in his
line at the Coop. I felt so bad for him and for us. How easy it is to fall in the cracks… So many of us know him
and remember his kindness and his smile. I don't know what else to do but if there is a fund please let me know.”

“Reading of this terrible happening to such a beautiful person really put a face for us on the plight of the homeless.
Willie represented the best that was in the Co-op idea of humane and caring service for consumers. It was not just
checking out as quickly as possible, but chatting & joking & information & always the big welcoming smile!”

“I'm SO happy that people in the community want to help Willy and that the Weekly has made it easily possible.
My check will be on its way Monday. When I first gave Willy my Co-op number, years ago, I used to say, just for
fun, "I'm Lovable 25862;" pretty soon Willy got to calling me Lovable. After a while, neither of us could remember
my number without the Lovable preface. I would be pushing my shopping cart around the store and suddenly I'd
hear, "Hey, Lovable," floating out from the check stand. Willy is a really great guy; all the Coop customers loved
him. I'm glad to have a chance to help him out. I hope he'll be able to get back on his feet."

Whether Willie got back on his feet again is unknown, but there is no doubt that Branch was the giving spirit that
the Co-op represented. Palo Alto lost something when it lost the Co-op Market.

-Matt Bowling

Palo Alto: Then & Now

The original Co-op at 443
Bryant Street
(PA Weekly)

The Co-op on California
Avenue in the 1980s (PAHA)

The last surviving Co-op in
Midtown
(PA Weekly)

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