The Co-Op -
A store run by shoppers, for shoppers
Formally known as the Andover Consumers Co-operative Food Store, the Co-Op, as
it was more commonly known, was founded during the Great Depression. The Co-Op
was part social experiment and part community effort. It was an attempt by
local citizens to have some control over their money during the Great
Depression.
Image from
the Andover Historical Society collection #1983.153
The store originally
operated out of a single store front at 68 Main Street.
Shoppers
became members of the Co-Operative by purchasing a “share” in the store for five
dollars. For a single share in the store, members had full voting privileges in
the store’s management and operations, eligibility for office
in the Co-Op management structure, cash refunds on purchases, and a guaranteed
5% dividend on their shares. Shares could also be acquired by accumulating
refund credit.
The Andover Co-Op worked with other co-operatives in New England to negotiate
better prices in bulk and even maintained a test kitchen to “take the
guess out of buying food products” by evaluating and grading new products
considered for the store before they were made available to the public.
The Andover Co-Op weathered
the reactionary 1950s when co-operative businesses
and organizations were suspected of being socialist
and, therefore, possibly un-American. By the 1970s,
most co-ops had faded away, and in 1975, the
brothers Carlos, John, and Jose Barcelos bought the
Co-Op and created Barcelos Market, which continued
to operate until 1990. It was the Barcelos who
added a second floor to the south end of the
Merchants Block. Soon after the market closed, the
Building was occupied by Shawmut Bank.
NEXT:
Banking on Main Street |
