More co-op stores open up to offer savings and quality
Co-operative stores are taking off in France, with around 20 shops now operating across the country.
Prices are lower than in standard supermarkets, in return for members doing work in the shops, and the products are more local and producers are paid more.
To shop at one of the stores, consumers usually have to buy a share in the co-operative and then volunteer to work there for around three hours a month.
They help with tasks such as staffing the till, stacking shelves, cleaning, or compiling the accounts.
All decisions about the running of a co-operative shop – from choosing suppliers to sourcing products and hiring staff – are taken collectively.
In most cases, shops concentrate on healthier options such as organic produce and groceries from small local producers.
Gilles Caillaud, co-founder of Scopéli, a co-operative supermarket in Nantes, said: “People are fed-up with industrially produced food full of noxious elements. We don’t try to knock our wholesale suppliers’ prices down but instead we demand the best quality.”
Despite paying high prices to suppliers, bills are on average 10% to 30% lower at the till.
Gérard Noël, one of Scopéli’s 1,500 members, said: “We don’t have much buying power but as we grow it will increase.
“As we grow, we will need to find work so that all members can do their three hours a month.
“We’re considering establishing a kitchen garden, which would provide work as well as produce to sell in the shop, and we’ve also started a creche where members can leave their children (under their responsibility) while they work or shop.”
Shares in Scopéli cost €10 each, and members are asked to buy between one and five shares according to their means.
They also have to join the association (for €10 per year) that was set up in March 2016 to establish the co-op and open the store. Mr Caillaud said: “The supermarket opened in July 2017, so we’re new but we are carrying out renovations and will open definitively once our 600m2 supermarket is ready in early 2019.
“There are no limits.
“The co-operative store in Paris has 6,000 members and there’s one in New York which has 17,000, so we’ve a way to go yet.”
