Bethlehem Co-Op Boondoggle to Celebrate Its 15th Birthday Soon; Oh, and By the Way, It’s Still Not Open

Aug. 30, 2026

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

The Bethlehem Co-Op Boondoggle sprang to life in October 2011 when somebody couldn’t buy a pepper.

I’ve never had problems buying peppers, but maybe I just know where to look. Think of that, it’s been 15 years. I was a middle-aged man back when this was a Baby Boondoggle, now I get senior discounts just about everywhere except Iceland (they start at 67 there).

The Boondoggle at first was the Bethlehem Food Co-Op, then it took sort of a New Hope-ish turn to pretending to sell not just produce but also prepared food, coffee and locally made lotions and such, and it became the Bethlehem Co-Op Market.

Board members have come and gone, employees have moved on, yet one thing remains constant: The Bethlehem Co-Op Boondoggle has never opened.

It has spent $3.1 million of public dollars, I estimate a total of $6 million or so, it has run up more than $1 million in debt and back rent, become a laughingstock, and if it doesn’t open by the end of October, it will have been not serving Bethlehem for 15 years.

The Boondoggle has burned federal and state dollars, and additional federal money allocated to it by a fawning City Council, but it has never opened. On top of that, it’s a for-profit operation. In theory anyway.

It has expenses but no revenue. The Boondoggle has a storefront but the storefront is never open. The Boondoggle has made much of a mural for the site, but you can’t eat a mural. Maybe they should tape a banana to the wall and sell it.

At what point will somebody, anybody in authority call out the Theater of the Absurd at 250 E. Broad St.?

Meanwhile, I’ve brought the Boondoggle to the attention of various authorities who have expressed no interest in checking up on it. Hey, just $3.1 million of taxpayer dollars.

Here’s a look at the Boondoggle’s promises to open, going back just five years:

— 2021: “The co-op announced its location in March and is working with Peron Development and Boyle Construction to open the store in late 2022 and which will be open to all shoppers.” The Boondoggle had just been awarded a $2.9 million grant courtesy of former U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley.

— 2022: The Boondoggle did not open, of course, but it did many wonderful things and the leadership said it expected “to have our final narrative and budget approved” by the federal government in 2023. I wonder what the narrative was.

— 2023: The Boondoggle posted multiple updates, and this routine news item: “Due to national supply chain delays, we need to shift our projected grand opening date to early 2024.“

Meanwhile about a dozen Wawas have gone up since then.

— 2024: Are we there yet? NO! Another promise was made. The Boondoggle hired a general manager and membership coordinator (why don’t I ever get jobs where you don’t have to do anything?) and vowed, “After 13 years of dreaming, planning, and hard work, the Bethlehem Co-op Market will open our doors in 2024!” 

The doors didn’t open, but The Boondoggle changed its name to Bethlehem Co-Op Market from Bethlehem Food Co-Op. That’s not as good as a bushel of local sweet corn, but this is what passes for progress at 250 E. Broad St.

Later in 2024: “The day when you can fill your basket with local goodness, sustainability, and community spirit is just around the corner.” Not really. That was more than two years ago. The basket has only been filled with more nonsense.

They made multiple promises to open in 2024, and then:

September 2024: “Bethlehem Co-op Market is adjusting its grand opening to 2025 due to funding complexities … “

Funding complexities? I’ll define that as “not knowing what they’re doing.” The Boondoggle said the news would be disappointing, but actually it was entertaining.

I’ll abbreviate the obvious, they didn’t open in 2025 and so far they haven’t opened in 2026, and in four months it will be 2027.

They went into an odd phase this year where they vowed not to announce an opening date, and then the Boondogglers said they’d open later this year. That is, 2026 for those who have forgotten.

Meanwhile, they are shutting the public out of future meetings. I understand why — no witnesses! — but that doesn’t make it right.

The Happy Boondogglers concede they don’t have a general manager, they just finagled a loan extension, they’re $800,000 short of their fundraising goal and what more do we need to know?

It’s almost time to say, Happy 15th Boondoggle Birthday!

And Boondoggle On!