Co-operative Retail Services - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Co-operative Retail Services Limited (CRS, originally CWS Retail) was the second-largest consumer co-operative society in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. In 2000, it was dissolved by its members, merging with the larger Co-operative Wholesale Society, to form the Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd.

History

In 1933, CWS formed a retail division tasked with taking over failing retail consumer co-operatives, and setting up shop in new areas. This division was demerged to form Co-operative Retail Services during 1957. The demerger was prompted by complications with CWS's democratic governance: it was becoming a larger retailer in its own right but it was a secondary co-operative, owned by other co-operatives, meaning the retail division's customers had little representation on the board.

However elections were still held with rival political groups standing, such as the 1960 Committee which attempted to give a more left-wing leadership to the London Region of CRS.

During the mid 1990s, CRS began an ambitious investment programme. The society saw the CWS-led Co-op brand as old and out-dated and began a huge refurbishment programme of its ageing and neglected stores under a new 'Co-operative' identity. Slow to adopt the commonplace EPoS systems for its tills, and still pricing products individually rather than using barcode scanners, it also invested in information technology.

In 2000, these changes and improvements were overtaken by events, as CRS was merged back into CWS to form The Co-operative Group. Over the following few years, the re-branding efforts were temporarily reversed as stores and own brand goods were converted into CWS-designed formats – which included the 1993 version of the 1967 CWS four leaf clover "Co-op" logo. However, in 2007, the movement's re-branding programme

The Co-operative brand

The Co-operative is a common branding used by a variety of co-operatives based in the United Kingdom.Many in the UK mistakenly consider the Co-op to be a single national business, however each Co-operative is actually a franchise selling branded goods produced by the Co-operative Group The...

reintroduced the name Co-operative to these stores.

Food

The largest proportion of the business (93% of all sales) was devoted to food retailing in over 500 stores. The society had a wide range of stores including superstores (15,000sq ft+), medium-sized supermarkets (5,000-15,000 sq ft) and small convenience stores (<5,000 sq ft). At the end of the 1990s, superstores and supermarkets were branded 'Co-operative Pioneer' (a nod to the movement's heritage of the Rochdale Pioneers

Rochdale Pioneers

The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844, was an early consumer co-operative, and the first to pay a patronage dividend, forming the basis for the modern co-operative movement....

) while most smaller convenience stores would carry the 'Co-operative Local' brand. Previously, CRS had used a variety of brands, including Leo's and Stop & Shop.

Food buying group

In the 1990s, CRS led a grocery buying group, the Consortium of Independent Co-operatives (CIC) which was independent of the CWS-led Co-operative Retail Trading Group

Co-operative Retail Trading Group

The Co-operative Retail Trading Group is the central buying group for co-operative retail societies in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1993, and says that it supplies 100% of food bought for sale by co-operatives in the UK, after being joined by the last two independent societies in 2002...

(CRTG). Several of the larger regional co-operatives of the time were members: Portsea, Scotmid

Scotmid

The Scottish Midland Co-operative Society Limited, trading as Scotmid Co-operative, is an independent retail consumers' co-operative which originated in the Scottish Midlands, particularly Edinburgh and the Lothians. It was formed in 1981 by a merger of the Dalziel Society of Motherwell with the...

, United

United Co-operatives

United Co-operatives Limited, or simply United Co-op, was the largest regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom until its merger with The Co-operative Group in 2007. The Society operated across Yorkshire, the north west and north Midlands of England...

, and Yorkshire. In 1998, the CIC supplied £1 billion of goods annually, and the CRTG £2.5 billion. The collapse of CIC, in 1998, coincided with the retirement of CRS chief executive Harry Moore, who had opposed proposals to merge CRS with the CWS.

Non-food

The society operated department stores based in town and city centres. Most of these stores carried the 'Co-operative Living' brand. Department stores were located in:
Bangor

Bangor, Gwynedd

Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

, Barnsley

Barnsley

Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...

, Barnstaple

Barnstaple

Barnstaple is a town and civil parish in the local government district of North Devon in the county of Devon, England, UK. It lies west southwest of Bristol, north of Plymouth and northwest of the county town of Exeter. The old spelling Barnstable is now obsolete.It is the main town of the...

, Basildon

Basildon

Basildon is a town located in the Basildon District of the county of Essex, England.It lies east of Central London and south of the county town of Chelmsford...

, Bath, Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, Blackwood

Blackwood

-Botany:* African Blackwood , decorative timber tree native to seasonally dry regions of Africa* Australian Blackwood, Acacia melanoxylon, native to eastern Australia...

, Boscombe

Boscombe

Boscombe is a suburb of Bournemouth. Located to the east of Bournemouth town centre and west of Southbourne, It developed rapidly from a small village as a seaside resort alongside Bournemouth after the first Boscombe pier was built in 1888...

, Bridgend

Bridgend

Bridgend is a town in the Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of the capital, Cardiff. The river crossed by the original bridge, which gave the town its name, is the River Ogmore but the River Ewenny also passes to the south of the town...

, Burnley

Burnley

Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....

, Bury St. Edmunds

Bury St. Edmunds

Bury St Edmunds is a market town in the county of Suffolk, England, and formerly the county town of West Suffolk. It is the main town in the borough of St Edmundsbury and known for the ruined abbey near the town centre...

, Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Chippenham

Chippenham, Wiltshire

Chippenham is a market town in Wiltshire, England, located east of Bath and west of London. In the 2001 census the population of the town was recorded as 28,065....

, Colwyn Bay

Colwyn Bay

- Demography :Prior to local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 Colwyn Bay was a municipal borough with a population of c.25,000, but in 1974 this designation disappeared leaving five separate parishes, known as communities in Wales, of which the one bearing the name Colwyn Bay encompassed...

, Crawley

Crawley

Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...

, Doncaster

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

, Halifax

Halifax, West Yorkshire

Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...

, Hammersmith

Hammersmith

Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...

, Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....

, Hereford

Hereford

Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...

, Herne Bay

Herne Bay, Kent

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, Huddersfield

Huddersfield

Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

, Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, Leigh

Leigh, Greater Manchester

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, Letchworth

Letchworth

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, Llandudno

Llandudno

Llandudno is a seaside resort and town in Conwy County Borough, Wales. In the 2001 UK census it had a population of 20,090 including that of Penrhyn Bay and Penrhynside, which are within the Llandudno Community...

, Llanelli

Llanelli

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, Merthyr Tydfil

Merthyr Tydfil

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, Nelson

Nelson, Lancashire

Nelson is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 28,998 in 2001. It lies 4 miles north of Burnley on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal....

, Newmarket, Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...

, Pontefract

Pontefract

Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...

, Reading

Reading, Berkshire

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, Romford

Romford

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, Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe

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, St Austell

St Austell

St Austell is a civil parish and a major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the south coast approximately ten miles south of Bodmin and 30 miles west of the border with Devon at Saltash...

, Stevenage

Stevenage

Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....

, Stratford

Stratford, London

Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...

, Swansea

Swansea

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, Taunton

Taunton

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, Trowbridge

Trowbridge

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, Wells

Wells

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, Weston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare

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, Weymouth, Worcester

Worcester

The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

, Wrexham

Wrexham

Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

, Yeovil

Yeovil

Yeovil is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 27,949 at the 2001 census, although the wider urban area had a population of 42,140...

.

Larger, out-of-town stores carrying a larger range of lines - but no clothing or cosmetics - carried the 'Co-operative HomeWorld' brand. These stores were located in: Carn Brea

Carn Brea

Carn Brea is a civil parish and hilltop site in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The hilltop site is situated approximately one mile southwest of Redruth.-Neolithic settlement:...

, Catcliffe

Catcliffe

Catcliffe is a village and civil parish on the north-west bank of the River Rother in South Yorkshire, England. It is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, about south of the town of Rotherham and east of Sheffield City Centre.-History:...

, Coventry

Coventry

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...

, Exeter

Exeter

Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...

, Filton

Filton

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, Hedge End

Hedge End

Hedge End is a town and civil parish located in Hampshire in England. It is situated to the east of the City of Southampton, adjoining the districts of West End and Botley. Hedge End lies within the Borough of Eastleigh and is part of the Southampton Urban Area.It is sometimes mistakenly claimed...

, Talbot Green

Talbot Green

Talbot Green is a village just north of the M4 motorway, in the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales in the United Kingdom...

.
In 1999, the society sold ten of these properties to Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...

, for conversion into Big W (Woolworth

Woolworths Group

Woolworths Group plc was a listed British company that owned the high-street retail chain, Woolworths, as well as other brands such as the entertainment distributor Entertainment UK and book and resource distributor Bertram Books...

) and B&Q

B&Q

B&Q plc is a multinational DIY and home improvement retailer headquartered in Eastleigh, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1969 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kingfisher plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange....

stores.

Rentals & Credit Operations

In conjunction with Household and Electrical departments, the operation also ran its own credit finance facility, and rental operation. Rentals included televisions and fridges (gas and electric) .

Funerals

At one point the "Co-op" buried more people than any other Funeral Director.

Car dealerships

The society operated ten car dealerships with 835 staff in the Cambridge area under the Herbert Robinson name.
Herbert Robinson had been a business of the former Cambridge & District Co-operative Society, that transferred engagements to CRS in 1991.
In 2000, these sites were absorbed into CWS's much larger Priory Motor Group, which at the time had 18 dealerships on 12 sites.
Priory was broken up and sold by the Co-operative Group in 2005.