About a year and a half after opening its doors, the Food Shed Co-op in Woodstock is at risk of closing them.

The grocery store opened in May 2024 near the intersection of Route 14 and Lake Shore Drive, but sales have been lagging behind what it needs to stay afloat.

The store needs an average of about $65,000 in weekly sales to be viable. Since July 1, the Food Shed has been seeing an average of just over $47,000 in weekly sales, according to an owner email sent earlier in December.

The co-op is working towards raising $50,000 by the end of the year or midnight Wednesday. If the Food Shed hits that goal, two donors have offered to match that amount.

The co-op posted on social media Tuesday morning that it had generated just under $22,000 of the $50,000 needed to get the match.

Scott Brix, president of the Food Shed board, said the fundraiser got started after Thanksgiving.

The Food Shed began in concept as the McHenry County Food Cooperative in 2014, and it took about a decade after that for the store to open. Prior to its debut, three marketing studies and a feasibility study were conducted, required by the USDA to make sure the concept was “feasible.”

The Food Shed had to jump through a lot of hoops with banks and the USDA to prove its feasibility, Brix said. The store needed to have enough cash reserves to sustain the business for three years, but 20 months in, that’s down to just 60 days, Brix said.

Among the factors behind the financial strain include inflation, Brix said. Lingering post-COVID-19 supply chain issues also have affected the store.

A cyberattack on a company that supplies food to health and natural food stores and co-ops, including the Food Shed, also made things tough.

“Our shelves were rather sparse,” Brix said, adding the store is still recovering from that.

Other economic factors like tariffs haven’t hit the Food Shed directly because the co-op emphasizes locally sourced items, but some suppliers might have been affected, Brix said.

Brix said the store has sent out email blasts to the Food Shed’s roughly 2,670 owners being transparent about the fact “the store they own is having trouble” with cash flow. Sales have picked up since the co-op has spread the word about its financial situation, Brix said.

Asked how many owners the store needs to be viable, Brix said it’s not as much about new owners as it is getting sales to viable levels.

In addition to emails, Brix said the situation has been relayed through owner newsletters and at the company’s annual meeting in September.

Woodstock Mayor Mike Turner said the Food Shed’s mission is “important” and that it’s a significant part of the community.

Woodstock resident and real estate agent Kim Keefe is among the store’s owners. Keefe said she purchased and has been handing out Food Shed gift cards to people to encourage them to go check out the store and help it get some business.

“I love the Food Shed,” Keefe said.

Keefe said she has been shopping there moresince she learned of the store’s financial issues. She said it was the “neatest grocery store” and she wanted to make sure it stays open.

One of the hardest parts of the grocery store is it can be out of the way, Keefe said. She said she will sometimes drive past the Food Shed when driving from Crystal Lake to Woodstock, and suggested putting up a sign leading up to the intersection to turn into the Food Shed to alert drivers the co-op is coming up.

Any resident of Illinois or Wisconsin who is at least 18 can become a Food Shed owner by purchasing at least two shares at $100 each. But anyone, even if not an owner, is welcome to shop at the Food Shed.

In an owner email, operators said the store would get over $100,000 if each owner who shopped at Food Shed in 2025 increased their shopping by 10%.

The November email also said the store was projected to run out of money by the end of the year if sales did not pick up.

Co-ops like the Food Shed are often touted as being more locally focused, environmentally aware and beneficial to communities than corporate grocery chains.

The Food Shed is the first co-op grocery store in McHenry County. Brix said community members could do a variety of things to support the co-op, the main one being to include the Food Shed in their grocery shopping routine.

Supporters can also donate to the store directly at owners.foodshed.coop/donate. Those who live in Illinois can purchase interest-bearing preferred shares; email invest@foodshed.coop for information, and Illinois-based owners can also provide loans.

Preferred shares are different than ownership shares, Brix said. Preferred shares are about “basically investing in the idea” of the Food Shed. Brix acknowledged investors probably won’t get a windfall from it but would be making an investment in community and sustainable and local food.

The question on the table, Brix said, is whether McHenry County residents want to support local, sustainable, healthy, organic, non-GMO foods and resist what Brix called corporate control of the food supply.

“It’s still an experiment,” Brix said.