We are not the same as other retailers…
We are your Co-operative!
Welcome to Chelmsford Star. We are a retail Co-operative Society based in Mid Essex with an annual turnover approaching £70million. We trade in Braintree, Chelmsford, Ingatestone, Danbury, Writtle, Hockley, Canvey Island, South Benfleet, Tilbury and Shoeburyness.
Our Society is run like any other retail business, but with a difference - we follow a co-operative set of values and principles, and we are owned and controlled by our members (shareholders).
Co-operatives have always believed in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. That’s just as true today as it was way back in 1844 when the Rochdale Pioneers launched the first successful retail co-operative.
The aim then was to supply goods to the general public via a membership scheme which cost £1 to join – a large sum in those days and yet today it still only costs £1 to join most retail societies including ours. Members were also entitled to receive a proportion of the profit from their purchases, which was returned to them in the form of a dividend, and this is still the case.
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Our Society was formed in 1867 and now has a membership in excess of 50 000, who receive dividend via a Membership Card. We employ almost 700 staff across our four trading divisions, which consist of :-
- 29 convenience food stores called 'the Co-operative’
- 2 department stores called ‘quadrant’
- 2 travel departments called 'Travel Centre’
- 6 funeral branches called ‘Co-operative Funeral Services’
One of the Co-operative principles is “caring in the community” and we actively support the local environment in many guises. This includes being involved in local award schemes and promoting and fundraising for a Charity of the Year via in store events. We also offer a free to all bereavement and aftercare support service, as well as providing financial assistance to over 140 local community groups with our Community Card scheme.
So you can see that we are so much more than just one store, and in 2005 we launched our first Social Report detailing where we are today and where we are going tomorrow.
Are you coming with us? It could pay you dividends! Why not page through this site,
find out more about us and what could be in it for you.
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Chelmsford
Star Co-operative Society - at the heart of essex