Many Thanks: A Moment with Eastside’s First General Manager, Amy Fields
Of the many hundreds of staffers, board members, and volunteers that have come together to keep Eastside growing and thriving over the past 2+ decades, there’s one such person who we think deserves a little time in the limelight. We are talking about Eastside’s first General Manager, Amy Fields.
Back in 2002, at the advice of longtime co-op ally Bill Gessner, (and after 14 hours combined of interviews!) Amy Fields accepted the position of store GM many months before the actual store opened. In April of 2003, she was busy wrapping up family and work life in the non-profit sector while working part time on Eastside from her then home of Kansas. By June she was living and working full time in Minneapolis. After two postponed opening dates slid by, the store finally opened on December 4th to an ecstatic Northeast community and over 850 owners. Efforts that began in the 90’s to once again bring a co-op to Northeast after years without one had finally come to fruition.
Those early years were extremely lean and arduous. Many of Eastside’s original owners weren’t shopping at Eastside because of woes over the (limited) product selection. There wasn’t a budget for much of an admin team and marketing was as grassroots as it gets. Luckily for Amy and the organization, the board was extremely invested and acted generously to help perform many tasks for the store as co-op ambassadors. Additionally, leaning on the assistance and participation of the surrounding neighborhood associations helped to cultivate Eastside’s roots within the community in authentic ways.
“We have to be good grocers. Before anything else. But once we’re good grocers, we are a force and can build the kind of communities people want to live in”
“...there’s just something, not noble, but vital about feeding your community”
It doesn’t take long while speaking with Amy to get a crystal-clear view of how important she considers co-ops to the practice of community building. One can understand the work of co-ops through the lens of “nourishment” both through food and through community. The power that food has to bring people together, and to lift people up through that togetherness, is something both intangible but familiar for those working in the co-op space. Amy understands first-hand how being successful at nourishing people’s health leads to being better grocers, and how that leads to being a formidable and positive partner in building a healthy community.
“...I feel like co-ops are true community developers.”
When asked if there was anything she wanted to share or say to the owners of Eastside, in light of this celebratory year, she simply answered, “how grateful I am”.
Amy, we’d like to say the same to you.