Broadly speaking, it's ethics. PCC is strongly committed to sustainable agriculture and positive social and economic impact. They actively support local sustainable farmers, advocate for sustainability in the wider food system, treat their employees with respect, and don't ever put profit over the well being of the community, employees or the planet. For some people - particularly those with a lot of disposable income, supporting those values is worth money. Personally, I don't shop much at PCC, because I think there are more efficient ways I could use that extra money to support my values. But that's all there is to it. It's a way for those who have the money to spend to buy food that they know is produced sustainably by people who are paid and treated fairly. More on reddit.com

A vicious cycle of loosing economies of scale, which increases prices which turns away customers, which repeats More on reddit.com

It started off as a food co-op, with open 100pound burlap bags of rice on the floor, membership cards, and everything was bulk-buying. I would love to find that kind of place again. PCC now is just a supermarket. More on reddit.com

Ex Employee here. They get all their produce from local farms around the area. They have a whole program dedicated to only bringing in certain produce that meets their "PCC STANDARD". While I was there we never got produce delivered from the big companies like Charlie's produce or other big companies. They try to locally source most of their produce and only during the peak season time will they carry certain fruits and vegetables. Also the attention to detail is a big thing in PCC. As we have have our own compost making system so all bad produce never goes to waste they get put into a compost maker which then we sell once its ready. So the workers never feel like they wasted food cause it's all getting used. More on reddit.com