We trade in food, departmental stores, travel and funerals across Braintree, Chelmsford, Ingatestone, Danbury, Writtle, Hockley, Canvey Island, South Benfleet, Tilbury and Shoeburyness. Our Society is run like any other retail business, but with a difference - we follow a co-operative set of values and principles, and we are owned and controlled by our members (shareholders). Co-operatives have al
ways believed in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. That’s just as true today as it was way back in 1844 when the Rochdale Pioneers launched the first successful retail co-operative. The aim then was to supply goods to the general public via a membership scheme which cost £1 to join – a large sum in those days and yet today it still only costs £1 to join most retail societies including ours. Members were also entitled to receive a proportion of the profit from their purchases, which was returned to them in the form of a dividend, and this is still the case.
