This is a co-op - I am not sure, because I am only a customer & not a member, but I don't think that everyone that "works" here is a paid employee - they have members putting time in the store as a part of their membership from what I was told when asked if I wanted to be a member.
There aren't a lot of local places to find some of the products sold here, so it is convenient to be able to pick up a small amount of organic produce, meats, dairy, gluten-free or dairy-free products from this store. The regular prices are a tad high, so I usually only shop the sales and the specific gluten- & dairy-free items that my son needs. Their price for water is great and you can find local honey here. Most of the cashiers are friendly too. They don't really claim to give any medical or nutritional advice, so you need to do your homework and read the labels before purchasing.
They have terrible staff that don't know anything about natural healing. You would do better for yourself to go to walmart. The management is borderline retarded with no clue about running a business. The prices are very high compared to other stores. The co-op attitude is not there this is just another company using the idea to sell products. I am going to walmart at least I can save money