South County Report: A Bright Spot in a Beleaguered Community 

The market isn’t even open yet. But for the small crowd of Imperial Beach residents who gathered Thursday morning at a shopping center a few blocks from the city’s troubled shoreline, just the arrival of a sign over an empty storefront was cause for celebration. 

“When people come together, we can … make something really special happen,” said resident Shannon Ratliff to the crowd of roughly two dozen onlookers who assembled in a parking lot near Sixth Street and Palm Avenue to watch workers on an orange construction lift hoist letters and a store logo into place above a pair of sliding glass doors. “This is a really big deal.” 

The sign at the center of attention Thursday featured a simple graphic of a sun and ocean wave above the words “Suncoast Market Co-op.” 

It was that word “market” onlookers cheered. 

If all goes according to plan, in a few months the empty storefront where the sign was installed will be transformed into a 6,000-square-foot community-owned and operated full-service grocery store offering fresh produce, grocery products, household items, cold beverages, prepared foods and deli sandwiches. 

The market will be the first full-service grocery store in Imperial Beach since the city lost its last major grocery store 10 years ago when the Washington-based Haggen grocery store chain closed all of its California locations prior to a 2016 merger with grocery behemoth Albertsons. 

Funded by city and county grants, philanthropic donations and 1,340 local residents who chipped in $200 each to become founding members, the Suncoast Market Co-op will be one of only two cooperative markets in San Diego County. 

Cooperative markets are owned and operated by community members who purchase shares and vote to elect a governing board, which sets market policies and hires a general manager to oversee day-to-day operations. 

Ratliff, a founding member of Suncoast currently serving as vice president, said co-op markets are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to traditional grocery chains, especially in communities like Imperial Beach that struggle to attract mainstream brands. 

“When communities lose a grocery store, they have to come up with different solutions,” she said. “Cooperatives have been a long-term solution for communities in this situation. They are definitely seeing a resurgence.” 

Supporters said Suncoast’s long-awaited arrival is a badly needed dose of good news at an otherwise challenging time for Imperial Beach. 

In recent years, the ongoing sewage crisis in the nearby Tijuana River has shuttered the city’s fabled shoreline, dampened tourism, forced businesses to close and caused mounting respiratory and other health problems for residents. 

The city is even slated to lose up to three elementary schools after local school officials voted earlier this year to close campuses due to declining enrollment. 

“Imperial Beach has suffered in recent years,” said Daisy Ruth, a Suncoast member who showed up at the parking lot on Thursday to watch the store’s new sign go up. “We have a very negative reputation. People say, ‘Ew, Imperial Beach.’” 

Ruth and other store supporters said Suncoast represents a different side of their scrappy, tight-knit, beachfront community. 

“We are a lovely small town,” Ruth said. “We have surfers, immigrants, military people, you name it. IB has preserved a small-town feel. People know each other. We support each other. You see that here.” 

Since the Haggen closure, Ruth said she and other Imperial Beach residents have had to leave the city for groceries. The only other grocery stores in town are a Grocery Outlet discount market with unpredictable shelf stock and a handful of smaller markets selling mostly regional foods. 

The closest full-service stores are a Vons in south San Diego or grocery stores in Chula Vista and Coronado. 

“The only reason I leave town is to get food,” said Suncoast member Mel Lions. “Now I’ll be able to ride my bike here.” 

Shannon Ratliff said she and a handful of other Suncoast founders initially hoped to persuade another grocery chain to replace Haggen. City officials petitioned several companies, but the stores all said no. 

Imperial Beach, Ratliff said, is too small, too out-of-the-way and too low-income to interest standard grocery chains at a time of industry consolidation and low profit margins. 

So, she said, residents decided to open their own store. 

Easier said than done. 

Ratliff said it has taken dozens of volunteers nearly a decade to make Suncoast Market a reality. 

With help from city and county officials, as well as mentorship from Ocean Beach People’s Food Co-op (until now San Diego County’s only other cooperative market), volunteers raised nearly $4 million, taught themselves how to open a business, set up a nonprofit fundraising mechanism, hosted years’ worth of community events, leased a storefront, hired an architect and, most recently, installed a mix of new, used and donated equipment inside the nearly completed market. 

Escorting onlookers through the market’s interior after the sign installation, Ratliff (accompanied by her two kids, Mason and Fiona) weaved past unplugged refrigerator cases, newly installed sinks, stacks of unbuilt shelves and a row of donated bulk food bins that volunteers recently cleaned by hosing them down in a nearby church parking lot. 

“IB is a major Latino community, and so a lot of our merchandise will be items you’d expect to find in that kind of community,” Ratliff said. “We’re hoping to partner with 150 local vendors for products and produce…We did a lot of community surveying about what people want to purchase.” 

“The thing about opening a co-op is it’s the community coming together,” she said. “Ten years is a long time for a community to wait for a grocery store…This is an example that puts community first.” 

Let’s Get Together and Talk South County News! 

Want to meet a Voice of San Diego reporter? Come to the Chula Vista Civic Center Branch Library at 6 p.m. on Wed. Aug. 13. I’ll be hosting a free Meet the Beat event where you can hear about the latest stories I’m working on and share your own questions and news ideas. 

I love meeting readers and staying in touch with the communities I cover. Please come. I’d love to meet you. For more information or to register your spot, click this link. 

In Other News 

• Doctors and other medical providers at the Imperial Beach Community Clinic last week posted an open letter on social media alleging that the health clinic serving 10,000 uninsured and low-income patients in Imperial Beach and surrounding communities is on the verge of collapse amid layoffs, leadership turnover, financial mismanagement and other problems. Clinic leaders fired back with their own letter saying the clinic remains open and fully operational during a period of necessary restructuring. This is a developing story and I’ll be covering it in greater detail in coming days. Stay tuned. 
• Recently elected San Diego County Supervisor (and former Imperial Beach Mayor) Paloma Aguirre returns to her hometown Friday to unveil new county-provided warning signs along a stretch of the Tijuana River where air quality measurements show especially high levels of toxic gas emissions from sewage and other industrial pollution in the river. Aguirre will appear alongside Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe, vice chair of the Board of Supervisors. The appearance is part of Aguirre’s effort to beef up the county’s response to the ongoing sewage crisis. 
• Restrooms and the fishing pier at National City’s bayfront Pepper Park will be closed until Aug. 11 as part of the Port of San Diego’s ongoing overhaul of the popular waterfront park. Port officials say portable restrooms will be provided during the closure. 
• The San Diego Foundation and the San Diego Association of Governments recently announced they have raised $14 million in state funding to support construction of affordable housing in San Diego County, including $1 million to help developer Casa Familiar build 103 units of community-owned affordable housing in San Ysidro. 

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