Seed Award Spotlight: Green Tree Co-Op Market

This series features recipients from the most recent round of Premios Semilla, sharing their paths to entrepreneurship, the values that guide their work, and the ways their businesses contribute to stronger, more resilient communities. Each profile offers insight into the leadership, creativity, and commitment required to build and sustain food businesses that serve both local markets and the broader public good.

In the most recent award cycle, Michigan Good Food Fund distributed nearly $300,000 in seed grants to 18 Michigan-based food and farm businesses. These investments extend beyond capital support, recognizing the essential role these enterprises play in strengthening Michigan’s food system, advancing equity, and supporting long-term economic growth.

Among them is GreenTree Co-op Market, a community-owned grocery in downtown Mt. Pleasant that has served local shoppers for more than 55 years, rooted in the belief that food access should be welcoming, inclusive, and community-driven. Founded as a small buying club and grown into a full-service neighborhood grocer, the Co-op has evolved alongside the community while staying true to its mission of prioritizing people over profit. Today, GreenTree continues to invest in accessibility, customer experience, and local and values-aligned sourcing, ensuring that every shopper—regardless of ability or background—can navigate the store with ease and dignity.

Keep reading to learn more about GreenTree Co-op Market and how its community-first model continues to strengthen downtown Mt. Pleasant and support a more connected local food system.

Responses shared by: Megan Fisher, GreenTree Co-op Market, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

¿Qué significa para usted personalmente haber sido elegido ganador del Premio Semilla y cómo se refleja en la trayectoria de su empresa hasta la fecha? 

Being a Seed Award winner means a great deal to not only myself and GreenTree, but our shoppers we see every day! Our reconfiguration of existing entrance and exits from heavy, metal manual doors to automatic open with a push of a button brings accessibility to our neighbors that shop with us. From adults with kids and strollers, to folks using mobility aids, to those like me that just can’t make a seconds trip with grocery bags and need to make one trip with 10 bags of groceries out the door, this will be a massively impactful change for the store. We want everyone to feel welcome from the very doors they enter to the end of their checkout and this improvement will help us realize that dream in one more giant way!

¿De qué manera apoyará la financiación del Premio Semilla sus objetivos empresariales inmediatos y a largo plazo?

GreenTree Co-op Market has existed in the Mt. Pleasant, MI, downtown community for over 55 years. These generous funds bring the Co-op one step closer to accessible grocery shopping for all community shoppers as well as bring the store closer to our long-term goals of absolutely everyone knowing they are welcome to shop the Co-op with ease any time!

¿Puede compartir su visión de los cambios positivos que este premio le permitirá introducir en su empresa y en la comunidad en general?

This award helps GreenTree Co-op Market continue its long-standing commitment to serving the Mt. Pleasant community as an inclusive, welcoming place to shop for healthy, accessible food. With this support, the Co-op can strengthen its operations and customer experience while advancing its long-term vision of ensuring every community member feels comfortable, valued, and empowered to shop with ease. Beyond the store itself, this investment supports a more connected downtown, reinforces local food access, and helps ensure the Co-op remains a trusted community anchor for generations to come.

¿Qué le llevó a crear su empresa? ¿Qué le motiva a hacer lo que hace?

GreenTree Co-op was started by a Central Michigan University student and a few friends as a buying club in 1970. Since then, GreenTree has undergone numerous changes from names changes to most recently a brand new expansion and relocation to a new, five times larger building  downtown! With over 12 years at GreenTree myself in various roles from storekeeper to wellness buyer, to grocery manager, and now General Manager, I come to work knowing that the work we do as a store impacts not only our local neighbors, but suppliers across the world from Fair Trade chocolate bars to the maple syrup from town! Knowing that I have a team of dedicated staff behind me, I feel great coming to such an enjoyable workplace and getting good groceries into the hands of the community. Co-ops exist for their communities so there is no one owner because we are community owned! There is no corporate we need to answer to and we are not in the great game of groceries to make profit other than to pay our employees, upgrade equipment as needed, and stock the shelves with good food!

Interested in learning more about community-owned grocery retail and accessible food systems? Visit GreenTree Co-op Market to explore their mission, find contact information, and stay connected with store updates. Be sure to follow them on Facebook y Instagram to see how they continue serving the Mt. Pleasant community every day.