Wheatsville Launches Fundraising Campaign to Open New North Austin Locations

Last summer, Wheatsville Co-op announced its Guadalupe location would close at the end of 2026, citing issues with sales decline and Austin’s plans to install a light rail through the area.

Now, as the community-owned grocery store approaches its 50th anniversary, it’s launched a fundraising campaign to replace the campus-area location with multiple small-format stores throughout North Austin.

The Wheatsville location at 3101 Guadalupe opened in 1981. General Manager Bill Bickford began his career bagging groceries for the grocer. Over the years, owner support has funded a 2006 renovation and a 2013 expansion to South Lamar. But due to demographic changes and business vacancies on the Drag – as well as Austin’s plans to install a light rail that would ultimately inhibit access to the store for customers and large deliveries – Bickford won’t renew the location’s lease when it expires in summer 2026.

“The sales of that location just aren't quite supporting the operational expenses of the store, whereas that is not the case at our South Lamar store, where we are experiencing sales growth and remain financially sustainable,” he says.

Bickford believes there’s enough density in North Central Austin to support more than one new location.

“We are interested in opening neighborhood-focused stores,” he says. “Generally smaller than our South Lamar store. We want to be big enough to meet your needs, small enough to meet your neighbors, and be convenient and accessible to as many of our current shoppers and future shoppers as possible. We're creating a food economy that's directly accountable to the community.”

Director of Capital Strategy Bree Whitehead says Wheatsville hopes to raise $10 million to open the new stores.

“We're looking for about $4 million through our traditional fundraising, which is calling the community and reaching out to our 29,000 owners,” she says. “We're looking to raise the additional $6 million through the expanded Austin area community.”

Bickford knows there’s no shortage of grocery options in Austin, but says the difference when shopping at Wheatsville is that the money stays within the community. Funds are used to directly support local farmers, growers, and producers.

“Our goal is to democratize the local food economy,” Bickford said. “We want to make sure that Austinites have a resilient food system that is accountable to them. We are directly accountable to the community in a way that our competitors are not, and we think that that is part of the value we bring.”

[Editor's note: The story has been changed to correct our claim that the Guadalupe location was the original Wheatsville location. The first location was at 29th and Lamar. We apologize for the error.]