By Townhall Chicago News Staff
The board of Prairie Food Co-op in Lombard has decided to begin winding down store operations, according to a news release read on a Chicago radio program Friday.
The board made “the heartbreaking decision to begin winding down store operations,” the release said. Weekly sales were “around 40,000 per week, approximately half of the 80,000” the store needed, the release said. The store also needed a gross margin of about 35 percent.
Fundraising produced $100,000 in pledges, which the release called “not enough.”
The store opened in July 2025 after raising “more than 4 million,” according to WGN reporting that a host cited on the program. The reporting said the store received $807,000 in state grants from Rebuild Illinois Downtown and Main Street Capital and $750,000 in federal money, a total of about $1.56 million.
The host said that public money was “over 1.5 million, or 35%” of the $4.4 million raised.
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten wrote in a post, read on the program, that “I secured $750,000 in community project funding…”
