Chester Co-operative Society

The Co-op Group has its origins in the co-operative consumer societies started by the "Rochdale Pioneers". On 21 December 1844 the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society opened a store selling "pure food at fair prices and honest weights and measures". Historically, members' sales would be recorded in ledgers in society's stores and at the end of the collection period a proportional payment would be made to the member. As the societies grew, and the number of members increased, the method of using ledgers became cumbersome. As a solution, some societies, including Co-operative Retail Services, issued stamps to members for qualifying transactions. Members collected stamps on a savings card and, when the card was complete, would use it as payment for goods or deposit into their share account. Thomas Hughes, best known for his novel Tom Brown’s School Days, and later resident of Chester, was actively involved in the early movement but resigned in 1882 when he became a County Court judge at Chester.

The Chester Co-operative Society was founded in 1884. It's success depended in part on the Co-operative Wholesale Society (formed 1863) ownership of factories producing goods for member societies, and it managed to prosper despite the generally depressed economy period between 1873 and the 1890s.

Buildings



 * 73-75 Brook Street.
 * 78-94 Foregate Street was originally the Chester Co-operative Society department store, and built 1904-5, by Douglas and Minshull. As this was not in any of John Douglas's normal Vernacular Revival styles with many flourishes, the design "shocked" the City Council Improvement Committee ("CCIC"); the addition of the partial leaded glazing on the upper floor windows was the price paid for CCIC approval.
 * In 1927, a dairy was designed for a location in Brook Lane for Chester Co-operative Society Ltd by Douglas, Minshull & Muspratt (Douglas had died in 1911).
 * New offices for Chester Co-operative Society were approved in Brook Lane in 1939.