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Birmingham (Industrial) Cooperative Society Shops

Not in Birmingham but this pic shows how far afield the society spread in a relatively short time.2 coop.jpg
 
Thanks Viv. I did suspect this, and its maybe why they dispensed with the Divi as it was costing a fortune to process.

I am interested in this, as we tend to see the face of the co-op in the historical photos of the shops fronts etc as the history of the company. But there must have been a whole army of people in the back offices who made a significant contribution to the success of the business.

It's their stories that have disappeared into history and become lost in the past. What were their working conditions like, what did they do and how did they do it. What skills did they have that may now be lost....
 
Hi Mort - absolutely agree. There's much more to be uncovered about the divi. I think it's worth having a separate thread, maybe there are memories out there that will give us further insight. Hopefully. Be interesting to hear some 'back room' memories.

Viv.

Edit. There is now a thread specifically about the Co-op Dividend scheme. Anyone using the scheme, administering it or having memories of it, please post on the thread below. Thanks.
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/co-op-dividend-scheme-birmingham.48273/
 
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There is a book....HISTORY OF THE BIRMINGHAM CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY LIMITED, 1881-1931

It may be available from the Library.
 
One thing that has struck me. I never knew anything about the Co-op. (We had one in Lyndon Road, Sheldon). But it's just struck me it must have been the fore-runner of what we now call "Chain Stores" eg Aldi etc.
OldBrummie.
 
The difference, Old Brummie, is that the Co-Op was born out of the need to provide its Members - those were the folks paying inflated prices to mill owners - with basic foods and products at a low and most importantly, affordable cost. It started in 1844 in Rochdale, Lancashire and soon spread to most industrial areas of the country. Sainsbury and all the others were a commercially led enterprise.
 
OldBrummie said:
Am I right in assuming then that the stores were (at that period in time) restricted to members?
OldBrummie.
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I am not sure Old Brummie, although I have been around for a very long time, I don't go that far back :D but I am sure that it was. However as the movement spread I assume that anyone was welcomed and with the 'divi' being an incentive they probably soon joined.
 
From memory only I think anyone was welcome at any of the Co-op stores which often had slightly lower prices across the range of goods sold. As Radiorails says the Divi was an added incentive for families on a lower income to join.
Being a member was also something of a tradition, Mom was in the Co-op so you followed suit.
There was also, I believe, a bit of social snobbery in that people of a supposedly higher station in life could afford not to be seen shopping there, did they have a Co-Op in areas such as Solihull or Sutton Coalfield.
One of my old school mates went to work as an assistant at a local Co-Op, and I remember that this was considered to be lesser than working in "a normal shop"
Don't think this reflects on my own thoughts as I threw in an office job (leading to a career ?) to work in a hardware shop whilst waiting on National Service call up. When I told my boss what I was doing ( at a higher pay ) he said something to the effect that some people would do anything for money. I believe they went out of business a few years later.
Cheers Tim
 
The Co-Op were usually good employers and as such staff, until the last twenty years or so, did not have the closures and bankruptcies that private companies often had. They always paid a slightly better wage than most private firms.
 
The first Birmingham Industrial Co-op Society shop (#1 shop) opened in Great Francis Street in August 1881. It expanded along to Newdegate Street in 1884.


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At the 1931 Co-op Jubilee celebration (Bingley Hall) a replica of the earliest shop was on display. Viv.

image.jpeg

image.jpeg
 
Re: #132 - Solihull and Shirley both had Co-op shops. I remember the Shirley one well. I have only vague memories of the Solihull one but it is listed in the 1959 telephone directory as being on the High Street. The entry has 39 in brackets which I assume was the branch number and says "grcry etc"
 
This large Co-Op in High Street Erdington has been on the forum in the Erdington thread since 2012 so I've linked to it from this thread ... :)
Stitcher said:
erdington High Street, this store opened in 1936 but was later replaced by a superstore by the same Society.
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Co op van near the branc in A. Green. 1934.png

For anyone who is not familiar with the area, the village traffic roundabout is a few metres behind the cameraman/
 
co op garage.jpg
I have posted this picture before but I don't think it was on a Co Op thread. Travelling away from the city the garage was a few metres past Wolverhampton Road and just off screen to the left was a small row of Co Op shops. It was a Co Op garage selling Regent fuel.
 
I only vaguely recall the Co op in Solihull but can still visualize the one in Lyndon Road which was addressed as Sheldon Birmingham 26 in those days.
OldBrummie.
 
Thanks Lyn. It's changed quite a bit over time. It once had different sections/shops. It had a small shoe shop on the left, but I don't think it was where the cash point was. That part of the building might be a more recent addition.

I remember it quite well as my mum had a cake shop in the row of shops on the other side of the road, a little way up towards Kingstanding. Viv.
 
viv i am sure there is an older photo of this shop somewhere on the forum...could be on the kingstanding thread..

lyn
 
Thanks Lyn. I can find this one on that thread. It shows the edge of the building (with a white awning) to the left of the policeman. Be nice to find a fuller view if there's one around. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
There is this pic of the Hawthorn Road Co-Op dated 1992. I used to go past it when I was a child but it did not look like this .... :)
co_opHawthorn1992.jpg
 
Agree Phil. As with most Co-ops, when they changed to supermarkets they developed one long shop sign linking all the separate departments together. I suppose it gave a modern image. I remember thinking in the 1960s that the Co-op was still old-fashioned and dowdy. Wouldn't have dreamed of shopping there. But my mum loyally stuck with them. Even in the 60s I think the Hawthorn Road shop was still in separate parts. And might not have had all those units, but not too sure about that. Must have changed around the late 70s/80s. Viv.
 
Yes Viv, I did wonder myself whether someone was using the name 'Co-Operative' because it did not have the 'look' of a typical Co-Op. Perhaps we had better start seaching for another Co-Op outdoor ...
Phil
 
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