Central England Co-operative and Wooldale Co-op join forces to strengthen their local impact

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 31/05/2017


The Board and management of Central England Co-operative and Wooldale Co-operative have decided to join forces to strengthen the local offering for Wooldale Co-operative customers and members.  

Wooldale Co-operative Society has a long history in the local area, stretching back over 130 years and has three food retail stores, employing 40 colleagues all of whom will be transferred to Central England Co-operative.  

The deal comes as the Wooldale members agreed that in order to safeguard the society’s stores, a larger Co-operative partner would be an ideal option and Central England fit the bill perfectly.  

Both societies already successfully traded nearby to one another, both have highly popular and successful stores in the area and share the same co-operative focus on community good causes, membership benefits and paying members and colleagues a fair dividend.

Trevor Doherty, Chairman of Wooldale Co-operative Society, said: “Central England is a society with the best geographical fit, coupled with excellent member, staff and community credentials and a strong trading position.

“As a very small society we needed to work with another society who could make the investments we need year-on-year.

“Central England has the ability to invest in our stores, improve pay and conditions of our staff and bring additional benefits to our members and our community.”

Martyn Cheatle, Chief executive of Central England Co-operative, said: “We are delighted to be pairing up with Wooldale members and colleagues and will be quickly moving to improve working benefits as well as upgrading food stores for our members and customers.  

“We will also be promoting our community dividend as part of Central England membership. We give away 1% of the Society’s trading profit to local good causes and community groups, so pop in to store to see us and we can explain how we can help good causes dear to your heart.”

Regular customers to the three Wooldale stores will start to see improvements very soon and the whole team at Central England Co-operative is excited to be able to strengthen and improve the customer and membership offering and support in the area.  Local people are encouraged to pop in to any of the refitted stores to find out more about the new and exciting product range and community support on offer.

Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.

Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop

Notes to editors

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK. It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with gross sales of £927 million in 2016/17. The Society recently celebrated being named Leading 

Co-operative of the Year 2016 by Co-operatives UK. The Society’s principal areas of activity are food, funeral services, and property investment. Central England Co-operative has over 400 trading outlets across 16 counties including; West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.  The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2017. 

Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.  It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence.  The Society supports a number of charities including Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.

Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.
Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop

For more information visit www.centralengland.coop, follow Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative

Rob Smyth / Heather Clapton at Central England Co-operative on 01543 414140

Email –publicrelations@centralengland.coop