I scraped 60+ worker-owned co-op stores to build a searchable product directory

#javascript #webdev #showdev

I wanted to buy from worker-owned cooperatives, but there was no single place to see what they actually sell. So I built one.

What it does:
workerowned.info indexes 32,000+ products from 60+ worker-owned co-op stores. You search for something - coffee, chocolate, books, soap, whatever - and it shows you which co-ops sell it. Click through and buy from their store directly.

There's also a location tool for finding worker-owned coffee shops and restaurants by city (110+ listings across the US).

How it works:

Scraped product catalogs from Shopify, WooCommerce, and Squarespace stores using their public APIs and feeds
Product data stored as JSON, search is client-side
Built with React + Vite, deployed on Vercel
No backend, no accounts, no tracking, no ads

The scraping approach:
Most co-op stores run on Shopify (products.json endpoint), WooCommerce (REST API), or Squarespace (RSS/JSON). I wrote scrapers for each platform, normalized the data, and combined it into a single searchable index. The whole catalog refreshes periodically.

Why I built it:
Worker-owned cooperatives make great products but they're invisible compared to Amazon. You have to already know they exist to find them. This marketplace is an attempt to fix that.

I'm a hobbyist - this is a volunteer project. No monetization, no plans for it.

Curious about: