Co-operatives play a significant part in the UK economy, and there are 6000 co-operatives enterprises and 15 million members of co-operative organisations. I was reminded of the scale and reach of the sector during a family visit to Somerset.
Radstock Co-operative Society is an independent, member owned co-operative retailer operating a number of community stores and a superstore in and around the Somerset area. One of the co-operative principles is co-operation among co-operatives and in that spirit I visited the Radstock head office and a couple of their stores to meet their team and find out more about their business.
The passion and professionalism of the Radstock team was very impressive, as was their involvement with their local community. This wasn’t the only thing I took away from my visit – I needed to get some shopping during my weekend away and of course popped into the local Radstock store! It was a useful reminder that wherever you are, you are probably never very far from a co-operative business.
Linda Edwards, The Co-operative Credit Union CEO, outside the Radstock Co-operative Fosseway Store.
