Hyde Park Co-op grocery closes after 75 years

After 75 years -- most of that as its neighborhood's only major supermarket -- the Hyde Park Co-op on Chicago's South Side finally closed yesterday.

Several hundred former customers and shareholders assembled in the produce department a few hours before its doors closed for good, and a group of musicians played "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," the traditional anthem of a New Orleans jazz funeral.

Former Chicago Alderman Leon Despres (duh-PRAY'), a founding member, recalled how the co-op was founded during the Great Depression from a vision that a better society could be built from the bottom up. He said it stood for honesty in an age of shady business practices.