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91-588: The Co-operative , also known as Co-op , is a brand used by a variety of co-operatives based in the United Kingdom . It is not a single business, but a number of different consumers' co-operatives spanning various sectors. The Co-operative Group is the largest consumer co-operative in the UK and the biggest user of the Co-operative brand in its 4,500 trading outlets. Many independent retail societies in

182-527: A community shares scheme and are subsequently run as co-operatives. As of 2015, there are 35 community pubs registered in the UK. In some situations a community pub may also incorporate a community shop. Examples of community pubs include: The Angler's Rest, Bamford , Fox and Goose, Hebden Bridge , Fox and Hounds, Charwelton , The Rose and Crown, Hexham and The Ivy House in Nunhead , south London . Community centres Crossing over sometimes with

273-582: A web store under the John Lewis division and 187 (Dec 2007) supermarkets in the Waitrose division. The company's presence is more marked in the south and east of England though it is gradually expanding to other areas of Great Britain. Suma is the largest independent wholefood wholesaler-distributor in the United Kingdom and a workers' co-operative. Suma specialise in vegetarian, Fairtrade , organic , ethical and natural products. Greencity Wholefoods

364-794: A Grade One listed building in Manchester owned by Co-operatives . In Northern Ireland , credit unions are currently regulated by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and registered by its registry function – the Registry of Credit Unions and Industrial and Provident Societies. However, there are proposals for regulatory reform, set out by HM Treasury and the DETI , which detail transferring registration and regulatory responsibility for credit unions in Northern Ireland to

455-452: A card which all look very similar but which will list the specific co-op which the individual is a member of on the front. As a part of their membership schemes, many of the larger co-operatives which have adopted 'The Co-operative Brand' will allow members of other co-operatives to earn a share of their profits in a reciprocal agreement. This is particularly the case with those co-ops which have interests in supermarkets , whereas other users of

546-617: A certain locality, work for a common employer or belong to the same trade union, church or association. Because of the need for a common bond, most credit unions remain rather small. Credit unions are run in a not-for-profit way. This means they use their money to run their services and reward their members – not to pay outside shareholders. They must set money aside each year to ensure they don't go bust. They use any leftover money to provide better services to members or share evenly among savings accounts (a dividend ) In Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales ), credit unions are regulated by

637-410: A consistent branding whilst also driving for efficiency savings to make the food business more competitive - the similarity in conclusions between the 1919, 1958 and 2001 reports highlights the distinct lack of progress within the movement during this time. The 2001 report also highlighted the need to market what it called 'The Co-operative Advantage' which suggested that commercial success would provide

728-731: A department store and attached supermarket in Penrith, Cumbria and 7 small food shops in Cumbria and County Durham the Penrith shops are to be rebranded as the Lakes & Dales Co-operative. The first shop to be rebranded was the Lazonby branch. In early 2015 the non food departments of the Penrith shop were closed and in February 2016 the rest of the shop closed. In 2015 Scotmid merged with

819-413: A panel representing all sections of the movement should be established to monitor and maintain the positive image of the brand, and that it should consider the "cloverleaf" logo's future. The Co-operative Group's designers and marketers collaborated with Harry Pearce and John McConnell of the designers' co-operative Pentagram , to develop a new identity to represent "The Co-operative". The selected artwork

910-533: A result of the Co-operative Commission 's report into the British co-operative movement which recommended that all UK consumers' co-operative societies switch to a universal recognisable co-operative brand. This single brand would be in contrast to the previous array of brands which had existed up to this point including the '1992 cloverleaf', the 'Co-op Welcome' and 'Co-op Late Shop' brands which

1001-540: A single store such as Shepley Co-op , Grosmont Co-op, Coniston Co-op and Allendale Co-op. The decline, through mergers, of single shop co-operatives, was reversed by two trends. Firstly, around 170 community owned shops were established since 1979, many of which are co-operatives. Secondly, the United States food co-operative movement was replicated in the UK: some of the independent food co-operatives established in

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1092-464: A single village, town or city usually with just a single store. Here, members would be customers of the society's trading location and the society would reward these members with a proportion of any profits based on that member's spending with the society, or a dividend . This is a fundamental difference between a co-operative and a joint stock company . Most societies were small, and by 1900, there were 1,439 co-operatives covering virtually every area of

1183-647: A variety of other support organisations and secondary co-operatives serving the sector. The Plunkett Foundation promotes co-operation in rural communities, including the agricultural and retail sectors. There are several other sectoral co-operative bodies, such as the Confederation of Co-operative Housing and Supporters Direct . The Co-operative College has, since 1919, served the co-operative sector in terms of developing members and managers, working internationally and developing new co-operative ideas. Various independent co-operative development agencies assist

1274-421: A way that many had previous opposed. The CWS was able to defend itself from this takeover bid and after investigations by a private detective and a subsequent criminal court case, Regan's bid was rejected and two senior CWS executives were dismissed and imprisoned for fraud. An arrest warrant was issued for Andrew Regan in 1999 however he had already emigrated to Monaco . The shock that Mr Regan's bid sent through

1365-561: A worker co-operative. Only the workers own shares of the business. It is estimated that there are approximately 403 worker owned and controlled co-operatives in the United Kingdom. In 2009 Co-operatives recorded a combined turnover of £144 million with assets of £32 million as part of the Co-operative Review 2009. The largest employee-owned company in the UK is the John Lewis Partnership . Though John Lewis

1456-630: Is a public limited company , its shares are held in trust on behalf of the employees rather than being traded on the London Stock Exchange . Each employee (referred to as "partner" within John Lewis) has a say in how the company is run and each year they are awarded an equal percentage share of the profits based on their salary. In the past ten years, this has amounted to between one and two months' salary for partners. The John Lewis Partnership operates twenty-six department stores and

1547-545: Is a similar worker co-operative based in Glasgow , Scotland. Infinity Foods Workers Co-operative Ltd (co-operative) is a large independent wholefood business in East Sussex. With a retail outlet with artisan Bakery, Cafe and wholesaler-distribution. Infinity Foods specialise in vegetarian, Fairtrade , organic , ethical and natural products. Infinity Foods workers co-operative has over 100 worker members making it one of

1638-403: Is also still running today. Agricultural marketing and supply co-operatives are owned by farmers. Openfield Group , Britain's only national grain marketing and arable inputs co-operative, has over 4,000 farmer owners. Mole Valley Farmers is another example of a supply co-operative founded by farmers. The late 20th century saw the demutualisation of several large co-operatives, including

1729-613: Is an independent retail consumers' co-operative based in Edinburgh , Scotland. Originally founded as St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society in 1859, it merged with Dalziel Co-operative Society of Motherwell in 1981 to form Scotmid. With over 3,900 staff, the co-operative has 177 Scotmid supermarkets and convenience stores , nine Lakes & Dales convenience stores, 17 funeral offices, and 89 Semichem health and beauty shops throughout Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England. Like most other retail consumers' co-operatives in

1820-592: Is an organisation widely considered to be the youth arm of the co-operative movement. Woodcraft Folk groups teach the principles of cooperation to children and is financially supported by the Co-operative Group and many other cooperative societies. The Wales Co-operative Centre is a co-operative development organisation based in Wales. They deliver business support for groups looking to set up co-operatives and social enterprises, and also deliver support around

1911-553: Is approximately 15%) with some electricity sourced from several community owned renewable energy schemes, including the Great Dunkilns Farm wind turbine at St Briavels in Gloucestershire and Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative . Credit unions are a loan and savings co-operative. Members normally have a 'common bond' to make them eligible for membership. Commons bonds are usually that all members live in

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2002-558: Is open to everyone and alongside being democratically involved in the decision making of the societies, every year members receive a share of the profits based on the amount made in profits that year and the how much they had spent with any of its businesses. In the case of The Co-operative Group , the society has over four million members and 3,600 trading outlets for its family of business which comprises groceries , insurance , funerals, legal services and health. In contrast to these large regional or national societies, some have remained with

2093-501: Is paid) to community groups or local development projects. Examples of such co-operatives include the Baywind Energy Co-operative and Torrs Hydro . Retailers' co-operatives (not to be confused with retail consumer co-operatives, above ) provide marketing and wholesaling services to retail businesses. In addition to Co-operatives UK , the central membership organisation for British co-operatives, there are

2184-723: The Cowley Club in Brighton and the Sumac Centre in Nottingham . A number of community-owned co-operatives have been established to own and run small-scale renewable energy projects. Many of these operate as onshore wind farms , small-scale solar power installations or as micro-hydro projects. Financing for such schemes is often a combination of community shares and loan funding and surplus funds are often distributed (once interest to loan providers and shareholders

2275-720: The Financial Services Authority who set certain standard and approve the people who hold important positions within a credit union. All credit unions must have the words 'credit union' in the title, or in Wales they can have 'undeb credyd'. The main trade association for credit unions in Great Britain is the Association of British Credit Unions Ltd (ABCUL). ABCUL is based in Holyoake House ,

2366-533: The Financial Services Authority . The main trade association for credit unions throughout the island of Ireland is the Irish League of Credit Unions . Housing co-operatives are owned and democratically controlled by its member-tenants. The Confederation of Co-operative Housing is the UK's national body for housing co-ops. A worker co-operative is a co-operative owned and democratically controlled by its employees. There are no outside- or consumer-owners in

2457-473: The Swing Riots of 1830. Early co-ops often focused on the provision of essential services (notably food) to members where the market was either unable to provide these services sufficiently or was considered unjust. Often the more successful co-ops were established around the trades which were experiencing the largest impact from the rapid industrialisation such as mining and weaving. This was likely due to

2548-602: The first national co-operative branding , the 'Co-op' cloverleaf. Though this led to some improvements the movement (including the CWS) remained largely unreformed with its grocery market share continuing its downward trend. It was also suggested around this time that societies merge to form regional societies to improve their competitiveness through the economies of scale . Many local co-op societies strongly resisted such mergers but, as their financial situation declined, many were forced to merge to create regional societies or with either

2639-466: The 1840s many had not been successful with societies often suffering through financial maladministration or fraud owing to the very limited legislation surrounding such enterprises. During the boom times, when work in the factories was more fruitful, co-operative societies also had difficulty encouraging people to retain their membership owing to perception of its limited financial benefits. It became understood that some kind of economic benefit for membership

2730-434: The 18th and 19th centuries, but also to the rapid social changes of urbanisation, the rising food prices which resulted from the marketisation of the economy and from the lack of political representation for the working class during this period. These factors led to a number of social changes including an increased focus on mutual businesses (notably co-operatives) in public discourse during this time and also to events such as

2821-485: The 1968 Co-op 'cloverleaf' design, utilising a uniform blue through all business areas. Following the success of the Rochdale Pioneers , co-operative shops were established across the UK and took customers away from private traders who responded by making it difficult for co-operatives to source quality goods to sell to their members. The solution was for co-operative retailers to come together in 1863 and form

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2912-533: The 4.6% increase at shops using the 1993 cloverleaf. The brand was introduced to food packaging in 2007, and officially launched in 2008. It was used in national advertising and a national programme of shop refits. In 2016 the Co-op group reintroduced an updated version of the 1968 logo, phasing out the co-operative logo throughout all their fully owned business, in favour of the cloverleaf. This transition included refreshing all Co-op branded products within vast areas of

3003-461: The British co-operative movement to be one business, The Co-operative Group . By the start of the 1990s the co-operative movement's share of the UK grocery market had declined to the point where the entire business model was under question. This was at a time where many building societies were demutualising as many of the public preferred the short-term financial gain of the windfall payment over

3094-644: The CRS or the SCWS to avoid failing. Consolidation within the movement was considerable and in 1973 serious financial mismanagement of the SCWS Bank led to the SCWS and the CWS merging to form a single UK-wide wholesale society. The co-operative movement's market share and profitability continued to decline during the 1970s and 80s in part due to a number of reasons. Firstly the process of de-industrialisation which characterised

3185-538: The CWS corporate dividend, would increase loyalty to the CWS. During World War II rationing led to an effective pause in any major changes to the co-operative movement in the UK with the CWS becoming highly involved in sourcing overseas goods for UK consumers and manufacturing wartime goods. Following the war there was some attempt to modernise the co-operative stores. After the London Co-operative Society opened its first self-service shop in 1942

3276-421: The CWS from 'selling to' to 'buying for' co-operative societies as a way of maximising the economies of scale to become more competitive to the major supermarkets. Since the 1960s the co-op had been following retail trends after they had occurred, always having to catch up, in a way that it led the changes before World War II. Many leaders in the movement began to appreciate that this 'me too' approach to retailing

3367-557: The Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) (now the Co-operative Group) responsible for sourcing and producing goods for sale in its members' shops, and for unified marketing and branding for the societies. The CWS carried out this role for members for nearly 100 years, and in 1968 launched "Operation Facelift", which resulted in the first national Co-op logo. The movement's cloverleaf logo created

3458-532: The Fairtrade Mark in the UK, it was an early adopter of the RSPCA 's 'Freedom Foods' animal welfare certification, it introduced the first supermarket line of 'environmentally friendly' household products and the first range of toiletries certified by Cruelty Free International as not tested on animals. This new adoption of an ethical strategy was only part of the CWS's changes. After the 1997 strategic review

3549-652: The North of England Co-operative Wholesale Industrial and Provident Society Limited, later renamed the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) was launched in Manchester by 300 individual co-operatives in Yorkshire and Lancashire during 1863. The Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society was founded in 1868. The largest and most recognised part of the UK movement are the many consumers' co-operatives . They are co-operative businesses run for

3640-515: The UK trade as "Co-op" and others, such as the Central England Co-operative , use the pre-2016 incarnation of the Co-op brand. Most co-operative societies have businesses in many different areas; however, the largest areas of the businesses are in food shops, particularly convenience shops, thus the largest and most visible use of the branding is as Co-op Food . The Co-operative brand as it is widely used today came about as

3731-400: The UK which use 'The Co-operative Brand'. Members of co-operatives get to be democratically involved in the running of the society, often with votes on key business decisions and for the election of board members. It is also common for members to be provided with a share of the society's annual profits which is proportional to the amount of money that an individual has spent with the society over

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3822-474: The UK. Community pubs have largely resulted from situations where a pub chain has chosen to close a pub, often in a village which is otherwise under-served by pubs. Commonly community pubs in England are established by listing the pub as an Asset of Community Value under the 2011 Localism Act before a group of local people raise sufficient funds to purchase and re-open the pub. Funds are often raised using

3913-559: The UK. Gradually, many societies expanded by opening further stores or by merging with a neighbouring society. Today, there is one dominant, national society, The Co-operative Group , and a number of large regional co-operative societies such as Central England Co-operative , the Midcounties Co-operative and Scotmid . Many of these large co-operative societies have businesses in a number of sectors, are led by their values principles and owned by their members. Membership

4004-497: The UK. This is a co-operative of co-operatives: a co-operative federation . Most kinds of co-operatives are eligible to join Co-operatives UK. Though the history of the co-operative movement in the UK is often traced back to the Rochdale Pioneers of 1844, the history of co-operation can be traced back much further. The origins of modern co-operatives owe their beginnings not simply to the extreme poverty faced by many in

4095-494: The United Kingdom, Scotmid is incorporated as a registered society. Scotmid has a committee style governance structure, similar to The Co-operative Group prior to its own major governance reforms. Scotmid Board Directors are nominated by Regional Committee members and elected by members from the Regions they represent (if these positions are contested). In 1968, Leith Provident's 1911 department store on Great Junction Street

4186-411: The benefit of their customer members. Of these co-operatives, the largest sector is food retailing, though they have a significant presence in other sectors such as travel agencies and funeral directors . The late 20th and early 21st centuries have seen a gradual exit by these businesses from the non-food retailing market. Many co-operatives (by convention known as co-operative societies) started out in

4277-622: The biggest independent employers in the Brighton and Hove area. Footprint Workers Co-operative, a printing service has been running in Leeds since 1997. The Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative is the oldest workers co-operative in Scotland, being established in 1977. It has since expanded and now operates eight stores across Scotland and northern England as well as an online sales platform. . Brixton Cycles , inspired by Edinburgh, opened in 1983 and

4368-503: The business is part of the Midcounties Co-operative and provides landline , mobile telephone and Internet services, including broadband . The Co-operative Energy is an energy supplier which is operated on behalf of Midcounties Co-operative by Octopus Energy , making it the only co-operative supplier in the UK energy market. The business sources more than half its energy from renewable sources (the UK average

4459-471: The business suggested that it close the majority of its hypermarkets and department stores and instead focus on its core chain of convenience stores , another significant proposal. (number of outlets) Utility co-operatives provide their members with services such as telecommunications , energy and water . The Phone Co-op was established in 1998 and provides broadband, fixed line and mobile telecoms services to consumers and organisations. Today

4550-403: The clearer direct benefits of membership and the solidarity of workers with a similar plight. The provision of food was a highly successful area for co-ops with many becoming involved in milling and baking bread. The Hull Anti-Mill Co-op, established in 1795 and which traded for a century, provides an example of such a successful society. Though many co-operative societies had been established by

4641-561: The cloverleaf logo were irreparably damaged. Market research carried out in the early 2000s showed a consistent decline in consumer ratings. The Co-operative Movement called on then Prime Minister , Tony Blair , to establish a Co-operative Commission to consider ways to ensure the survival of the co-operative business model into the 21st century. The commission, chaired by John Monks , published its conclusions in January 2001 making recommendations regarding branding. Most important were that

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4732-705: The cloverleaf logo, the Midcounties Co-operative took the decision to switch from the Co-operative Brand to the 'coop' Global Cooperative Marque of the International Co-operative Alliance - both in its ventures such as The Phone Co-op and The Co-operative Energy , and in new store openings such as those in Chipping Norton , Bourton-on-the-Water and Bletchingdon . Membership is crucial to co-operatives and more than 8 million people are members of co-operatives in

4823-438: The co-op brand, such as The Phone Co-op operate entirely independent membership schemes. Because it facilitates democratic engagement with the co-operative and is also a profit sharing mechanism, The Co-operative Membership scheme differs from loyalty cards which many other businesses offer. British co-operative movement Co-operatives UK is the central membership organisation for co-operative enterprise throughout

4914-483: The co-op expanded further, after opening additional stores, to have 5,560 members by 1870. This success encouraged a boom in co-operatives in the following decades across the UK, but predominately across the industrial heartlands of northern England. By 1860 there were more than 200 co-ops in the north west of England which were running in a similar manner to the Rochdale society. Private shopkeepers became resentful of

5005-440: The co-operative movement and so they endeavoured to create a co-operative wholesaler to supply at least some key products to co-operative stores. The North of England Co-operative Wholesale Industrial and Provident Society Limited, later renamed the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) was launched in Manchester by 300 individual co-operatives in Yorkshire and Lancashire during 1863. The Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society

5096-424: The co-operative movement has been attributed with sowing the seeds for the merger of the CRS and the CWS in 1999. The merger took two years to complete and the launch of the newly combined business, named The Co-operative Group, was timed with the release of the 2001 Co-operative Commission report, chaired by John Monks , which proposed a strategy of modernisation which focused on improving store design and building

5187-528: The co-operative movement including The Co-operative Group. These changes to the business are largely credited with the successes in profitability and the achievement in social goals which improved in the years after the Co-operative Commission report. This is not to say that modernisation of the CWS had not been under way for some time. Since 1993 the CRTG had been working to switch the role of

5278-421: The co-operative movement led the way on the development of self-service stores to the point where, by the 1950s, 90% of self-service shops in the UK were run by co-operatives. Despite this the market share and the number of members of the society began to dwindle and - importantly - so did the member share capital which societies used to invest. The CWS responded with an operational facelift in 1968 which introduced

5369-548: The co-operative sector in Parliament . Retail societies and other co-operatives are among the members of the party, which works with the Labour Party to elect those sympathetic to co-operative issues and to promote co-operation and mutuality. The think tank and consultancy Mutuo was originally developed by the party and now operates independently across the wider mutual sector in the United Kingdom. The Woodcraft Folk

5460-568: The company to Scotmid for £30 million. This allowed Scotmid to add the 50 Morning, Noon & Night shops to its portfolio letting it expand into areas of Scotland, such as the Highlands, where it didn't previously have any shops. Botterills Convenience Stores was a Scottish convenience shop founded in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire in the 1950s by the Botterill family. Trading under

5551-670: The competition which they were experiencing from these new co-operative stores, often as they saw the dividend as an unfair competitive advantage, and so some powerful shopkeepers lobbied for wholesalers to stop supplying these new co-operative societies. Though few such boycotts actually occurred, this threat worried many people in the co-operative movement and so they endeavoured to create a co-operative wholesaler to supply at least some key products to co-operative stores. The Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1862 enabled co-operative societies to invest in other co-operative societies, in effect permitting co-operative federations . Following this

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5642-422: The decade before. It was these mergers with consumers' co-operatives which led to the co-op having both corporate (co-op societies) and individual members and hence making it both a primary and secondary co-operative . The CWS's expansion into direct retailing (especially after the mergers of the 2000s) led to the CWS becoming such a highly visible business in the UK. The legacy of this was that many people consider

5733-481: The early 21st century, Scotmid acquired several competing convenience shops in Scotland: Alldays, 64 SPAR shops and Morning, Noon & Night. Scotmid added Dundas Fyfe funeral directors to its funeral operation in a reported £1 million buy-out deal. The head office moved from Fountainbridge , Edinburgh , where it had been since 1859, to a new purpose-built office near Newbridge . The Fragrance House

5824-474: The factions within the movement, notably the strong rivalry between the CRS and the CWS, acting in a manner which exacerbated the belief held by many members of the public that, rather than working for the interests of all members, co-ops were largely acting in the self-interests of a dominant 'clique' of members within each society. Together these crises meant that the 1990s would become a crucial decade if 'The Co-op'

5915-452: The formation of new co-operative enterprises. Co-operative & Community Finance provides financing for new ventures. The Co-operative Press publishes Co-op News , the main news organ of the movement. The UK Society for Co-operative Studies brings together academics and co-operators and publishes the Journal of Co-operative Studies . The Co-operative Party was formed to promote

6006-534: The function of Community pubs, self-organised social centres or community centres are often worker or volunteer co-operatives. Often starting off as informal collectives or squats, some social centres incorporate, often finding the cooperative model appropriate. These buildings can have community spaces, resources, bars and cafes within them. Examples include Partisan in Manchester, the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford ,

6097-435: The funding for the social goals of the movement which (when the public saw a tangible benefit to their own lives) would provide a competitive advantage to the co-op which would further its commercial success - a virtuous cycle. Unlike Gaitskell Commission's 1958 report the recommendations of the report, notably the major update to "The Co-operative brand" and the re-launch of the membership dividend scheme, were largely adopted by

6188-439: The group including Food, Funeralcare and Insurance. The roll-out of the refreshed design was announced at the group's 2016 AGM. This coincided with the re-launch of Co-op membership, with a new deal that allows members to receive 5% off their spending on co-op products and services to spend within the business, with 1% of member spending being given to chosen local charities. After the Co-operative Group's 2016 decision to re-adopt

6279-559: The impression that it was a single organisation rather than independent organisations sharing common principles . The brand was strengthened by the creation of the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) in 1993, providing Co-op branded products and other food supplies to its members: by 2002, the CRTG provided 100% of food supplies sold by UK consumer co-operatives. Over time, the brand became tarnished by inconsistent customer delivery and image perceptions of

6370-841: The large regional West Midland Farmers, which was founded in 1916 as the Atworth and District Agricultural Society. West Midland Farmers renamed itself to Countrywide Farmers in 1999, becoming a joint stock company owned by 11,000 farmers until it went out of business in 2018. The 1994 break-up of the Milk Marketing Board eventually formed several large dairy marketing co-operatives, including Milk Marque (since demutualised and renamed Community Foods Group ), Dairy Farmers of Britain (ceased trading in 2009), Milk Link (merged into Arla Foods in 2012) and First Milk . Community shops are not dissimilar from food co-ops but are often found in more remote villages and provide some of

6461-566: The late 20th and early 21st centuries operate shops. By 1860 there were more than 200 co-ops in the north west of England which were running in a similar manner to the Rochdale society. Private shopkeepers became resentful of the competition which they were experiencing from these new co-operative stores, often as they saw the dividend as an unfair competitive advantage, and so some powerful shopkeepers lobbied for wholesalers to stop supplying these new co-operative societies. Though few such boycotts actually occurred, this threat worried many people in

6552-652: The name of "Botterills of Blantyre" and latterly under the SPAR banner, it ranked 19th in The Grocers Top 50 independent grocery retailers. Owner Jim Botterill sold his 51 shops to Scotmid in November 2010 for an undisclosed sum, enabling Scotmid to extend its territory south and west. In 2013 Scotmid merged with the Penrith Co-operative Society which had at the time of merger operated

6643-468: The outbreak of World War I the CWS had major offices in the United States, Denmark, Australia and a tea plantation in India. Many, fiercely local, societies saw the CWS as a valuable supplier but did not want to exclusively purchase produce from a single source. In order to increase loyalty to the CWS, they started to assist the local retail societies in more ways than simply as a wholesaler. The CWS Bank,

6734-416: The perceived lack of benefits from the mutual model. For a time it seemed as though the mutual or co-op model was almost dead – though around the 2008 financial crisis almost all of the demutualised building societies either failed or were forced to merge with a larger bank for support reigniting much debate on the virtues of the mutual and co-op models. The co-op's reputation was not helped in this respect by

6825-407: The period led to serious economic difficulties in many of the movements heartlands (notably the northern industrial towns) which disproportionally impacted on the societies through a decrease in consumer spending despite the British economy seeing a rise in consumer disposable income overall. This was largely due to the strong increase in inequality in the UK at this time and the co-operative movement

6916-491: The precursor to The Co-operative Bank , financed loans for societies to use for expansion through purchasing new buildings, land or new equipment. After the acquisition of the Co-operative Insurance Society in 1913, the CWS also provided insurance services to members and the CWS also began providing legal services – all business which remain today. It was hoped that these financial ties, as well as

7007-478: The services of a convenience store but also frequently have cafe , healthcare or library services. Since 1979 some two dozen community co-operatives have been established in remote areas in the Scottish Highlands and Islands and have carried on not only retailing but manufacturing and service industries, improving both incomes and the quality of life. As of 2015, there are 330 community shops in

7098-485: The themes of employee buyout and co-operative consortia working. They also provide support for organisations who are exploring setting up housing co-operatives. Students for Cooperation is a federation of 30 student co-operatives across the UK. The organisation works to support new and existing student co-ops, and to promote and raise awareness of the co-operative model amongst students. Scotmid The Scottish Midland Co-operative Society (trading as Scotmid ),

7189-539: The time was a period of notable inflation and a strong pound which led to a wave of cheap imported goods – this devastated much of the UKs manufacturing businesses (including the CWS). By the 1980s it became clear that the trend in the retail sector was towards large (often out of town) supermarkets and hypermarkets with hundreds of them appearing across the UK. The co-operative movement did build some superstores, having 74 by 1986, but often their development and competitiveness

7280-474: The working conditions in its factories and plantations as well as its boycott of South African produce during the years of Apartheid , by cementing its 'ethical' credentials in a series of strong and clear policy commitments it could work to convince the public of the 'co-operative difference'. This move posed a bold step for the CWS leadership as this was a wholly new approach for such a large business. The CWS worked with The Fairtrade Foundation to help introduce

7371-446: The year. This share of the profit is commonly referred to as co-op's dividend . The size of the dividend varies depending on the financial performance of the group. Membership of the majority of consumers' co-operatives in the UK was brought under one identity in 2008 as a part of the launch of 'The Co-operative Brand' however each individual co-operative retains its own individual membership scheme. Members of these societies are given

7462-514: Was based on a sans serif bold lower case ( Neue Helvetica ) logotype for the wording, with different colours representing different businesses. It won a silver award from the Design Business Association. The brand was trialled between 2005 and 2007, at several outlets of the Co-operative Group, Scotmid , United Co-operatives and Midcounties Co-operative . A 2007 pilot programme of 115 shops saw sales rise by 15%, beating

7553-496: Was founded by Scotmid in 2009. It specializes in perfume and by 2011 had five shops in Scotland with plans to expand to England and Northern Ireland. On 31 March 2021, it was announced that "up to 22" Semichem stores would close. Morning Noon & Night was a Scottish convenience shop chain set up in Dundee in 1991, by retailing executive Eddie Thompson (who became chairman of Dundee United in 2002.) In 2004, Thompson sold

7644-595: Was founded in 1868. The CWS grew rapidly and supplied produce to co-operative stores across England, competing fiercely for trade from co-operative societies with other non-co-operative wholesalers which led to the CWS becoming highly innovative. By 1890 the CWS had established significant branches in Leeds , Blackburn , Bristol , Nottingham and Huddersfield alongside a number of factories which produced biscuits ( Manchester ), Boots ( Leicester ), Soap ( Durham ) and textiles ( Batley ). This rapid expansion continued so that by

7735-399: Was hindered by the lack of a national distribution network and price competitiveness. During the 1980s financial troubles and an increasing number of co-operative societies led to the CWS began rescuing many of these (after the CRS began to struggle financially from the number of failing co-ops that it had merged with), the CWS having returned to direct retailing after its merger with the SCWS

7826-476: Was not well placed to tap into this increase in middle class spending due to the geographic spread of its stores and the co-op's historic association as the shop for the 'working poor'. Secondly redevelopment projects in many cities between the 1950s and 1970s often moved people from rows of terraced housing (which featured co-op stores dotted throughout) to newer purpose-built estates, with around 18,000 co-op stores closing as they become redundant in this way. Thirdly

7917-479: Was not working, for example expanding into hypermarkets after Tesco and Sainsbury's had already developed a dominant position but without the resources to compete on price. As an attempt to differentiate itself from its larger competitors The Co-operative Bank had introduced an ethical policy in 1992 and this, along with its technical innovation, was well received with customers. The CWS decided that, though it had always aimed to trade responsibly (for example though

8008-633: Was required alongside the educational and social benefits. It was the implementation of the patronage dividend and the formalisation of the Rochdale Principles which led to the success of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers which was established in December 1844, a business which continues to this day as a part of The Co-operative Group . The Rochdale Pioneers society became highly successful with 1,400 members in 1855 and

8099-812: Was still operating a then unusual overhead wire system that transported a customer's payment and dividend number from the sales assistant to the cashier, returning change and receipt. In 1995, Scotmid acquired the Scottish health and beauty retail chain Semi-Chem (since rebranded Semichem), followed in 1999 by the similar Northern Ireland business, Options. Also in 1999, Scotmid merged with Prestonpans Co-operative Society. In 2000, Scotmid closed all 20 of its non-food department stores , which had made losses for five successive years. In 2003, Scotmid acquired Wakefield -based national distribution business, M & S Toiletries, which it sold in 2008 to Sert UK . In

8190-404: Was to survive. In order to raise capital to invest in its food stores (and also the increasingly successful The Co-operative Bank) the CWS sold many of its factories to Andrew Regan in 1994 for £111 million before in 1997 he posed a highly ambitious £1.2bn hostile takeover attempt of the CWS. This shocked many in the movement and consolidated support for the CWS as the 'linchpin' of the movement in

8281-553: Was understood by the commission to be holding back the public's perception of the co-op sector's modernising approach. Not all of the UK's consumers' co-operative adopted the resultant 2008 and 2016 versions of The Co-operative brand with the Lincolnshire Co-operative and Scotmid being notable examples. At The Co-operative Group's 2016 AGM, it was announced that the Group would go back to a revitalised version of

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