Harvest Market co-op closes, leaving grocery gap in Winston-Salem neighborhood

A Winston-Salem co-op intended to address food shortages in an area south of downtown is closing.

Organizers held a ribbon cutting for the Harvest Market on Peters Creek Parkway in October 2022. It’s an anchor store for the long-running West Salem Shopping Center.

But it hasn’t gotten the traction that supporters had hoped. Now the board of directors has voted to close the business. In an email, organizers cited low sales as the reason for the closure. 

According to documents filed with the city of Winston-Salem, the goal was to address food insecurity in the area and provide a healthy shopping alternative to what the nearby convenience stores offered.

A 2017 final report from the Winston-Salem Poverty Thought Force found that food insecurity in the city was a significant problem, and often people in lower-income areas were paying more for the same items than at stores in more affluent areas.

Organizers could not be reached for comment.

The store will be open for its final two days over the weekend but only for co-op members.