When David Harde opened Noah’s Ark  in Placerville in 1993, it was the only place in the area for a good selection of organic produce.

Melisa Clark started shopping there immediately, then worked there as a cashier, and now is the store’s general manager. When Harde decided to sell the store, Clark took what she thought was the next logical step.

She’s spearheading an effort to turn Noah’s Ark into a shopper-owned co-op grocery.

If co-op organizers are successful, they will be riding a wave of co-op renaissance.

Many co-ops formed in the first half of the 20th century and co-ops flowered again amid the counterculture movements of the 1960s and ’70s. Those include the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op, a $25 million-a-year business, the Davis Food Co-op and the BriarPatch Co-op in Grass Valley.

Now, however, the 200 to 300 food co-ops nationally could nearly be doubled by an additional 200 food cooperatives currently in the works, according to the Food Co-op Initiative in Minnesota.

“Right now we’re seeing a resurgent interest in food co-ops,” said Stuart Reid, executive director of the Initiative.