A cooperative yesterday and today

The first cooperatives were established during the industrial revolution. Their main principles were solidarity, joint work and democratic management; besides, they also helped members with opening shops and joint procurement. In Hungary the first cooperative was founded in Ószombat, in 1845. After Count Sándor Károlyi’s initiative the Farmers’ Association was established in 1881 and the first cooperative shop opened in 1898. In the years between 1946 and 1949 the cooperative movement was transformed and later the new cooperatives were named ÁFÉSZ (General Consumption and Sales Cooperative). By the 1990s it became clear that a transformation was inevitable in order to stabilise the market position of Áfész units.

The Congress in 1992 decided that Áfész stores would concentrate on selling FMCG products, with centrally coordinated procurement. In 1995 Áfész founded the Coop Retail Chain – a standard network of different size shops. To perform joint procurement and retail organisational tasks, Co-op Hungary Zrt. was established in 1997. Co-op Hungary Zrt. is the franchise system with the biggest turnover in Hungary, it has nearly 3,000 stores and another 2,000 smaller shops belong to the network. It is present in 3,200 towns and villages, and 1.5 million customers visit Coop stores daily. The Coop Group is 100-percent Hungarian-owned, it employs more than 30,000 people, and last year its turnover surpassed HUF 510 billion.