So many of Britain's formerly most respected companies and institutions have fallen by the wayside over the last few years including the shopper and savers friend the good of Coop. They had a small department store in Stafford which included a restaurant called The Flamingo and as can be seen from this visiting Cambus Leyland Royal Tiger Doyan they catered for coach parties as well.
Plenty of Co-ops still around, surely?
ReplyDeleteHere in Lincolnshire our Co-op is still independent of the "national" Co-op which seems to have subsumed the local and regional Co-ops I remember from when I was a boy.
Not sure I'd call any Co-op a saver's friend nowadays though; they always seem to be noticeably more expensive than any other supermarket chain.
Cambus also still exists, perhaps surprisingly, as it's the legal identity of "Stagecoach East", although the much older name of United Counties has unfortunately fallen by the wayside, which means Midland Red (South) buses can be seen in places such as Kettering where you wouldn't really expect to see Midland Red buses.
And Lincolnshire Road Car buses turn up in Alfreton and even Leeds (on the now occasional X62 from Hull)...
Wasn't the original concept that customers became members of their local Co-operative Society and received a "dividend" on their purchases, paid out in cash every 6 (?) months, so making a kind of savings principle. I can still remember my mother's "divi" number - quoted for all purchases and also queuing in the local Co-op hall to collect her "divi"money.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm
Yes the Co-op was a bit like a year round Christmas Club, and of course it's still with us but not this store in the centre of Stafford which served the public for many years as did Woolworth's a few doors down
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