Penrith Co-operative Society

Penrith Co-operative Society Limited

Type	Consumer co-operative
Founded	1890 (1890)
Headquarters	Penrith, Cumbria, United Kingdom
Area served	Cumbria and County Durham
Industry	Retail (Grocery), Department Store
Website	penrithco-op.co.uk

The Penrith Co-operative Society Limited, known locally as Penrith Co-op, is a small regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom. The society was formed in 1890 and today operates one department store with supermarket attached and eight small supermarkets or convenience stores in Cumbria and County Durham.

History

In the early 1990s, the society maintained a distinctive local identity, alongside the 1968 national Co-op cloverleaf visible in the windows of its Burrowgate premises

When most other co-operatives in Cumbria merged into regional groups in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Cumbrian Society and the Greater Lancastria Society (now both part of The Co-operative Group), the Penrith society remained independent and has since taken over other small societies. These included the Keswick Co-operative Society in 1969; the Lazonby & District Co-operative Society in 1990; the Naworth Collieries Co-operative Society in 1993 which had branches in the small north Pennine villages of Hallbankgate and Halton-Lea-Gate and most recently, in 2002, the Stanhope & Weardale Co-operative Society.

The Penrith Co-op was featured on a 2006 episode of the national BBC Television programme Working Lunch for its support of the Melmerby village store set up by residents. The Melmerby village shop has since closed down.

Operations

In 2008, the society began refurbishing its Penrith department store and supermarket, with a new theme of “the Number 19 Department Store”, with its various departments labeled or branded as being “@19”, such as the new brand for the clothing department: “Style@19”.

Head Office, No. 19 department store and Penrith supermarket

The premises at 19 Burrowgate, Penrith houses the following departments: grocery, butchery, bakery, fashion, health and beauty, electronics, hardware, beds, furniture, carpets and cafe.

Branches

• Keswick Foodstore & Electrical Store, St James Court, Keswick, Cumbria
• Lazonby Foodstore and Post Office, Lazonby, Cumbria
• Shap Supermarket, Main Street, Shap Cumbria
• Hallbankgate Foodstore and Post Office, Hallbankgate, Cumbria
• Stanhope Foodstore, Off Licence and Handybank, Front Street, Stanhope, County Durham
• St Johns Chapel Foodstore, Market Place, St John's Chapel, County Durham
• Westgate Foodstore, Front Street, Westgate, County Durham
• Frosterley Foodstore & Post Office, Front Street, Frosterley, County Durham

Former branches

• Castlegate, Penrith (the society's original store)
• Castletown, Penrith (closed c.1970)
• Halton Lea Gate
• Scotland Road, Townhead, Penrith (closed c.1970)
• Penrith Pharmacy, (became part of department store in 1980s and later closed)
• Glenridding
• Shap No2 and No 5
• Keswick Home Store

Co-operative movement

The society is a member of the UK-wide Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG) and sells The Co-operative brand products. It is also a corporate member of hybrid consumer and wholesale co-operative, the Co-operative Group.

In 2005, Rochdale-based United Co-operatives bought a private sector pharmacy shop in Penrith which is now trading as Co-operative Pharmacy. However, this shop has no connection with Penrith Co-op's operations and, since United merged with the Co-operative Group in 2007, it forms part of the Co-operative Group Pharmacy division.

In 2010 The Co-operative Group rebranded the Penrith branch of Somerfield as a Co-operative Food store so Penrith now has two Co-op stores owned by two separate societies.

External links

• penrithco-op.co.uk – official website