The UK's biggest consumer co-operative, owned by millions of members and running food stores, funeral homes, legal and insurance services.
The Co-op, formally the Co-operative Group, is a UK consumer co-operative. Co-op Food is its largest division, with around 2,400 grocery stores, mostly small convenience shops. It also runs Co-op Funeralcare with over 800 funeral homes in England, Scotland and Wales, plus Co-op Legal Services, Co-op Insurance Services, property, and wholesale activities including Nisa and Co-op Franchise. Wikipedia describes the group as having a membership scheme, and lists its other divisions as including Co-op Property, so the business is wider than shops alone. Wikipedia says the group's wholesale core began in Manchester in 1863.
The Co-op's roots go back to the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844, whose Rochdale Principles still shape co-operative thinking. In 1863 about 300 co-operatives in Yorkshire and Lancashire launched the Co-operative Wholesale Society. The modern group was shaped by later mergers, including United Co-operatives in 2007, and a trade press report in the search results describes the group joining forces with Southern Co-op.
The Co-op says it follows international co-operative values and principles, with an elected Members' Council acting as guardian of them. It focuses on ethical trading, Fairtrade and animal welfare. It had over 5 million active members in 2023 and aimed for 8 million member-owners by 2030, according to Wikipedia, so check for current figures. We did not find a short mission statement in the pages read.
The group's head office is One Angel Square in Manchester, which it moved into in early 2013. Its operations are centred in the UK and extend to the Isle of Man for membership and delivery. Wikipedia notes that its insurance product manufacturer is based in Gibraltar, so the group is not entirely UK-only, but its stores, funeral homes and legal services are UK based. Wikipedia gives 56,465 employees in 2023.
Because the business spans shops, funeral care, legal and insurance work, its roles run from store assistants and delivery staff to funeral directors, legal advisers and head office specialists in Manchester. The Nisa wholesale business supplies independent convenience stores, which adds depot and logistics work. The pages we read did not list individual roles, so check the Co-op careers pages for current jobs.
Website: www.coop.co.uk
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