Keeping up with changes

COOP’s history started about 100 years ago. When the ÁFÉSZ stores forming part of the group decided to unite and continue working as the COOP retail chain in1995, this step marked an important turning point in the history of both the company and Hungarian retail. By 1997 no less than 1,325 stores of 203 ÉFÉSZ units joined the COOP retail chain. In the early 2000s COOP implemented a restructuring based on Swedish and Norwegian cooperative models, turning into a franchise network. At the moment the COOP Economic Group is in 100-percent Hungarian ownership, the retail chain consists of about 700 Hungarian SMEs. Last year’s sales exceeded HUF 560 billion and COOP employs more than 32,000 people. There are nearly 3,000 franchise stores in the retail chain and it supplies another 2,000 shops with products. Every day 1.5 million Hungarians shop in COOP stores.