The New Leaf Co-op: Help Us Grow & Thrive!

Our Growth: Why Do We Need Your Help?

Those of you who know and love our co-op here on Argyle Place may have noticed that, while our  location is a complete gem, we are challenged by our small interior. Our shop has had many iterations over the last 13 years – anyone remember when the till was in the middle of the front room? – but we feel that after a lot of ‘making do’, we need to make some more significant alterations to the space. Being homey and cosy  is one thing, but we are increasingly realising that the line between cosy and cramped is a thin one! 

*New Leaf Co-op's early days! With two of our lovely founding members.*

We are fundraising for a professionally-assisted space refit– for us, and for you!

These refit plans are not only for the comfort and wellbeing of our team, but also for our customers– we want everyone to enjoy improved customer flow and accessibility around the shop. If we want our co-op and the surrounding community to keep thriving for years to come, a thorough refit feels like a crucial step in ensuring that longevity. 

If you’re one of our regulars, you’re likely very skilled in sneaking around fellow shoppers and staff on busy days, navigating little nooks and crannies to refill your olive oil, or asking someone in the queue to pass you a block of tofu from a tricky-to-reach fridge. Maybe you’ve even had the joy of getting a sneak peek into our office and seeing 2-3 of our team tucked into what can be called a large cupboard at best, with legs interwoven and laptops balanced on knees. The basement is a conversation in itself – between our branded, bulk, and veg storage, the current maze of a shelving system leaves a lot to be desired! 

*Photo credit to JLFPhotography*

Our goal of £40,000 would help us fully cover the cost of:

• carpentry work for the entire shopfloor, office, basement, and staff room- materials and labour included
• closing the shop and paying our team for a period of at least seven days
• reworking our plumbing and electricity 
• redoing our entire basement space to make it safer and easier to navigate
• adding A/C units to the space for heating and cooling 
• developing and launching our online shop in 2025!

Simply put – we love the shop we have, but we really love the potential we see in our shop to be better. Our space hasn’t stopped us from being able to offer  a huge range of product lines, including over 250 refill products. It hasn’t stopped us from surviving the pandemic and coming out stronger four years later. It hasn’t stopped us from curating a beautiful community of workers, shoppers, and supporters. What we are looking for now is to bring out the best parts of our space, in a space that works better for us all.

* Photo credit to Scottish Enterprise*

This space refit would allow us to set aside a proper space in the basement for future projects– the main one being our plan to start  a small-scale cargo-bike delivery service and revamp our website to include a coinciding online shop. 

Our intention for this project would be to work in partnership with the Cargo Bike Movement (CBM), a charity based in Tollcross. We would process and pack deliveries at our shop, then borrow an electrically assisted cargo bike from CBM to fulfil these deliveries around the city. 

Working in partnership with other co-ops, charities, and small businesses has always been central to our objectives – as has providing ethical, organic foods to as many people in our community as possible. We believe that a cargo bike delivery service will do just that, whilst meeting the desires of the 48% of customers who showed interest in a delivery service during our 2022 customer survey.

*Our lovely team member, Jamie, who also works for the Cargo Bike Movement*

Sketches & Visuals

Below are some sketches and visual aids that we’ve been working on the last few months. These concepts demonstrate some of our ideas for the shop,  focusing on increasing flow, maximising space, and improving the overall customer and worker experience. 

These visuals were drawn up using exact measurements of our space and appliances. However, the layout you see below is not finalised and we will continue to work on different arrangements to see what balance strikes best. Certain features in the video are more solidly in our plans, like our intention to finally get a freezer!

We are planning to work alongside local craftspeople and professionals to bring these visions to life – the physical work itself would take place across a 10-14 day period of closure for the shop in early 2025. Our main partner in this refit is Marcin of Green Leith. Green Leith is a conscious, local joinery business that exclusively uses reclaimed and recycled materials from local charity wood salvage, in line with The New Leaf's environmental ethics. With Marcin as our lead, our team and other talented volunteers will help in the planning and completion of this refit. 

We have benefitted from the voluntary work and time of so many people over the course of our 13 years, and have continued to do so the last few months, offering professional advice and services to help us set up this project. A large portion of the funds we raise from this Crowdfunder will help us take the next step by enabling us to employ one of these folk as our project manager and lead carpenter for the entire space refit. This collaboration is rooted in mutual environmental values, so upcycling and conscious building will be at the centre of our work. That is to say - the cosy salvaged look you know and love is going nowhere! 

Our Roots: Who Are We?

The New Leaf Co-op opened its doors on October 8th 2012. There was already an existing wholefoods shop called The New Leaf on Argyle Place, which sold mainly pre-packaged goods from the front room of the current premises. When that business came up for sale, a small group of friends saw an opportunity to create their own vision of a wholefoods shop. With a shared interest in a worker-run, non-hierarchical structure, a co-operative seemed a natural choice for this new venture.

*New Leaf transforms into The New Leaf Co-op*

The early days of the The New Leaf Co-op were a whirlwind of learning, planning, borrowing, and doing. They successfully crowdfunded a start-up fund, receiving overwhelming support from friends, family, and community members. It was a very DIY process - a friend provided reclaimed beech and other wind-fallen wood from Glenelg, much of which still forms part of the shop fittings today. About 70 different people pitched in to help turn The New Leaf into what is now The New Leaf Co-op. There were long nights filled with last-minute pricing, planning, and the arrival of the infamous original peanut butter machine from the US!

*Our goodbye photoshoot to our original nut grinder, when we donated it to a local bakery. We then bought two new grinders second-hand!*

Getting the shop up and running was a monumental effort, marked by uncertainties and fears. The founders learned as they went along—negotiating with suppliers, finding out what customers wanted from the shop, and forming relationships that still endure today. At first, it was rare to see a full shopping basket in the store, but over the years, the shop has become a go-to destination for many of our customers’ weekly shops.

We now have a thriving store that is well known for its wide range of locally grown, organic, seasonal fruit and veg, a refill herb, spices & teas apothecary, and a grind-your-own nut butter area!

*Photo credit to JLFPhotography*

Surviving COVID And The Cost of Living Crisis

Like many small businesses, COVID-19 brought considerable challenges to The New Leaf Co-op. We faced a critical trading period, with cumulative losses since the start of the pandemic. Seeking professional advice through CoopsUK and Cooperative Development Scotland (CDS) was essential to navigate these difficulties.

*Two of our members working hard to keep the shop open during COVID*

As we came out of the pandemic, we recognised that people were feeling the pressure of rising living costs, with fuel and food prices escalating. Our team developed a strategic plan to respond to these shifts, which included sacrifices like reducing our own hours, giving up a rented office space, and spending more time on the shopfloor to offset administrative costs. By adjusting operations, we managed to stabilise the business and protect the co-op’s future. Now, in 2024, we are pleased to say we’re back to being a sustainable and healthy workers' co-operative, thanks to the dedication of all members, staff, volunteers, and loyal customers who supported us throughout.

*Photo credit to JLFPhotography*

Our Ethics & Community

The New Leaf Co-op has always aimed to foster a food culture grounded in strong ethics:

• The shop is fully vegetarian, with the majority of products being vegan.
• We prioritise buying ethically, locally, and seasonally, while supporting a diverse local economy through a network of small suppliers.
• All major buying decisions are made in line with our ethical buying policy, supporting movements like the Zapatistas and supporting Palestinian solidarity through the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and by supplying a range of Palestinian goods. 

*Photo credit to JLFPhotography*

Every week, The New Leaf Co-op welcomes a wide range of customers. Many of our customers are passionate about environmental and social causes and embrace cooperative values. We are proud to offer a space that fosters connection and reduces isolation.

The New Leaf Co-op celebrates being a queer-friendly and inclusive workspace. We have a diverse range of ages and backgrounds within our team, and pride ourselves in having a team that represents the usually 'under-represented' in a work-force. Currently, all six of the members who co-direct and make strategic decisions for the co-op are women or non-binary folk. We are committed to being anti-racist, and have sought training from the social action training co-operative, Tripod, to help inform our anti-oppressive practices. 

New Leaf operates with progressive policies that encourage sustainable and equitable work practices. We use consensus decision-making in our meetings and promote non-hierarchical working practices in both roles and shopfloor responsibilities. We operate a flat pay structure– every employee is paid the same. We aim to foster educational growth by encouraging skill-sharing and training opportunities. Through these practices, we support a respectful, transparent, and a collaborative environment, aligned with cooperative values that promote responsible use of power, care for one another, and constructive feedback.

*Photo credit to JLFPhotography*

Supporting Other Co-ops

*Photo Credit to Rhyze Mushrooms Co-op*

In keeping with the co-operative principle of mutual aid, we work alongside and support other co-operatives wherever possible. The New Leaf’s growth and survival have been supported by partnerships with other co-ops, and we are dedicated to offering the same support to others, both new and established. We currently supply from environmentally conscious and ethically focused co-operatives such as Greencity, Suma, Organic North, Land Workers Alliance, Grassroots Remedies, Rhyze Mushrooms, and SHRUB– plus we have a longstanding connection with Hearty Squirrel at the University of Edinburgh. By collaborating with like-minded, democratically run workplaces, we aim to create a fairer economy while strengthening the community and supporting ourselves.

Our support of other co-ops extends deep into our constitution as well– we are registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act of 2014. As laid out in our constitution, should we ever make the collective decision to dissolve the co-op as it currently stands, any/all profits and assets would be passed on to another co-operative with similar aims to our own.

*Photo Credit to JLFPhotography*

Thank you for your love and support, today and everyday! It's hard to express how much our amazing customers and community mean to us- we simply wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Here's to many more years together, and a happier, healthier New Leaf for us all!