Gov. Tim Kaine is encouraging everyone to eat locally grown food this week. That could soon be easier to do year-round.

A new co-op in downtown Harrisonburg is aiming to be open in a matter of months. About 375 people have already bought into the co-op.

Founding members of the Friendly City Food Co-op say they still need hundreds of people to invest before the planned opening next summer. People like Carrie Dengler-Wenger have been buying in for the last year.

She says, "We have local farmers who are having a tough time surviving. We're helping the people that live right here around us."

The co-op's leadership team hasn't announced exactly where in downtown the new store will be located, but they say it should be a boon to the local agriculture industry.

"So much of our agricultural products get shipped out of the area," says Jonathan Lantz-Trissel, co-chair of the founding team. "It's pretty sad being a bread basket of the south, that we don't consume most of our products here."

Leaders of the Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance say the store would fill a niche in the area.

"It's a key part of the revitalization effort," says executive director Eddie Bumbaugh. "At the top of almost everyone's list [of what they want downtown] is a grocery store."

The store will bring in some organic products from outside the area, but the emphasis will be on products from the Valley.

"It's a local business people can support," says Lantz-Trissel. "And people here in the Valley like to support local businesses."

That support is what they need to get going, more people to buy a $200 stake in the co-op.

"It is a big commitment to buy in. It seems like a crazy thing to give a place $200 that doesn't even exist yet," says Dengler-Wenger. "But we know the idea of co-op means it doesn't happen unless people in our community buy in."

The co-op's leaders say there will still be opportunities to invest after they open. They're hoping to see thousands of people buy in. Anyone will be able to shop at the store.

The co-op plans to announce the finalized location of the store this fall.