The Isla Vista Food Cooperative is a community-owned grocery store that has served Isla Vista and the UC Santa Barbara community since 1972. Students rely on the co-op’s services in what is otherwise a food desert — a community with limited access to healthy, affordable options.  

The co-op has been serving the UCSB community since 1972. Nexus file photo

Over the past two years, financial difficulties for the co-op have put it at risk of closure, President of the Board of Directors Lisa Oglesby said. An ongoing GoFundMe for the co-op has raised $3,550 out of a $200,000 fundraising goal.

“The community that supports the co-op sort of shrank a little bit and their resources shrank a little bit,” Oglesby said. “We’re seeing a lot of students just have less spending money. Life is expensive.”

Oglesby said the rising costs of living in I.V. has put an extra financial burden on regular co-op customers, leading to the co-op’s current crisis. For many residents in I.V., the co-op is their main outlet to get groceries when other local options like Trader Joe’s or Albertsons require transportation.

Regular shoppers at the co-op told the Nexus they choose the store due to its convenience, location, range of choice and its status as a co-op, as compared to grocery chains, among other reasons. A co-op is an organization that is both owned and operated by its members who put $150 toward the co-op.

“[The co-op] being within walking distance was a big benefit for me,” third-year electrical engineering major Alexander West said. “Not having a car makes it sometimes tough to get groceries, so [the co-op] being close by is useful to get food I need.” 

Going to other grocery stores means students rely on having a car, taking public transportation or carpooling with friends. The closest grocery store in Goleta is approximately two miles away from I.V. 

“You can take a bus out, or if you’re lucky, you have a friend with a car, or you have a car, then you could go out to Trader Joe’s. But being able to walk here is such an important resource for the community, and it would really suck if it was gone,” second-year environmental studies major Jeanette Huang said. 

Some students use the co-op to pick up a last-minute ingredient the day they are cooking a meal.

“I go to the co-op, especially if I’m cooking,” second-year sociology major Hung Phan said. “It’s just really convenient to have them nearby. So having them close would be a little bit cumbersome.”

The co-op offers customers a wide range of options, including fresh produce, deli meals and bulk goods. Additionally, the co-op stocks many specialty items, such as locally produced drinks and snacks.

“They have a lot of really unique items here that you don’t see at the grocery store,” Grace Freese, a fourth-year communication major, said. “I never shopped in places like this growing up. I feel like this [is] a really good, safe, community-oriented introduction to shopping at places that get items from community members and local vendors.”

The co-op, which gets its produce from local vendors, is the reason some students are able to maintain a healthy diet while balancing busy schedules.

“The co-op is my main source of food,” Hailey Lemus, a second-year art major, said. “A potential closure would make it harder for me to take care of myself. I have a condition where I have to eat better, and if I don’t eat better, then [I’m] going to have consequences. Which everybody else in college already experiences, where you just eat too much junk food and you kind of just feel like you’re burnt out. It’s gonna be bad for me if [the co-op] leaves.”

Many I.V. residents also feel an attachment to the co-op as a business. The co-op has been cited as an important part of the community, and its closure would not only mean losing I.V.’s primary grocery store, but a part of I.V.’s culture.

“I’m really sad about it. I really don’t want the co-op to close. I was so heartbroken when I read that,” Freese said.

This sense of loss is shared by other students in the community.

“I’d be devastated,” Phan said. “I think the co-op is a staple of I.V. at this point. A lot of people go to the co-op, a lot of my friends do too and I think it’s really tragic if they do close.”

The Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) is making plans to financially support the co-op. They voted to create a committee at the Feb. 11 IVCSD board meeting dedicated to assisting the store. They will present a proposal detailing potential solutions at a March 11 board meeting.

“It would be a major blow to lose our only full-service grocery store, and that’s kind of the emphasis for why we voted to explore financial contribution,” IVCSD Director Spencer Brandt said. 

Brandt emphasized that if the co-op were to close in the future, it would greatly limit the already few options to access healthy and affordable groceries in I.V.

“We need to live in a community where residents have access to a full-service fresh produce retailer or grocery store. If we were to lose the Isla Vista Food Co-op, we would meet all the definitions that the [United States Department of Agriculture] has outlined for a food desert,” Brandt said. 

According to the National Library of Medicine, food deserts are associated with increased rates of obesity and chronic diseases related to diet.

Oglesby said the co-op must improve their financial status by this summer, which leaves them pressed for time as local businesses take a big financial hit when students go home for summer. 

“The problem for the co-op is the summer. We [should] have improved operations to have a little bit of cushion for the summer,” Oglesby said. “Sales in the summer really slow down, and that’s a point that’s crucial. We’ve made small enough improvements that we’re inching by, but it’s still really hard every day to keep all the bills paid.”

To keep the co-op alive, Oglesby implores students to shop, donate to their fundraiser and spread awareness of its current crisis. 

“It’s just history that we are losing. We [could lose] a big part of I.V.,” Lemus said.

A version of this article appeared on p. 6 of the Feb. 20, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.