Bethlehem Co-Op Boondoggle to Open `Later This Year’ — ? — and Hold Meeting Tomorrow

March 1, 2026

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

The Bethlehem Co-Op Boondoggle is going to open “later this year,” according to a social media post.

We’ve heard this before. It was going to open in 2022, then later, then the opening was adjusted, and other opening dates have been announced, with at least two in 2025.

What’s interesting about the new vague promise is that the Boondoggle said earlier that it would not announce an opening until everything was just right. I walked by the 250 E. Broad St. Boondoggle a couple weeks ago, and nothing had changed inside the Boondoggle for weeks.

Meanwhile it doesn’t even have a working refrigeration system. Yet its Board of Directors had the gall to announce opening dates, and of course they all fell through. They don’t know what they’re doing, but they are good at putting their hands out for money.

The Boondoggle boondoggles on. Back in 2011 — 15 years ago — the idea of a community grocery store popped up, but not one celery root has been sold yet.

Back in 2018, 2019, the Boondogglers insisted there was an urgent need to sell food in Bethlehem. Urgent? That was eight years ago. Nobody has starved for want of organic fruit.

Yet Bethlehem City Council applauded the idea of giving public money to a Boondoggle, whose “member/owners” would be paid dividends if the place ever made a penny.

The Bethlehem Co-Op Market, as the Boondogglers like to call it, is not a store. It is an endless fund-raising campaign, seeking grants, donations and low-interest loans to offset its previous spending. The Boondoggle has taken more than $3 million from the taxpayers and returned nothing but hot air and false promises.

It has expenses each month, so think of it as a faulty barrel. The Boondogglers keep pouring water in at the top while water leaks out the bottom.

So for those who like to Boondoggle, the Boondoggle will hold a committee meeting tomorrow. The Boondoggle isn’t very good at opening, and will probably be worse at operating if it does open, but it does meet often for social gatherings and for whatever else a non-operating grocery co-operative does.

Think of it as a $3 million debating society, subsidized by your tax dollars.

Here is a link to details about the Monday Boondogglers’ meeting, which is online only.

Boondoggle On!