The Co-op Food Stores

One of many consumer cooperatives started during the years of the Great Depression, the Hanover Consumer Co-op is now among the oldest in the United States.

In January of 1936, 17 Hanover and Norwich residents formed the Hanover Consumer’s Club. Initially, members of the fledgling co-op pooled orders for potatoes, oranges, and maple syrup and arranged for discounts of gasoline and fuel oil with local suppliers. A year later, Co-op members incorporated as the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society and opened a small retail store in a basement on Hanover’s Main Street. Annual sales that year reached $11,404.

Within a few years, the Co-op moved to the site now occupied by the Dartmouth Bookstore and opened Hanover’s first self-service grocery store. Here, the Co-op grew and prospered for 20 years, enjoying steady increases in membership and sales.

But as the Co-op grew, its downtown location became cramped, and it was plagued by the perennial Hanover problem: parking. In 1962, the Board of Directors of the 2,000 member Co-op authorized purchase of the Hanover Co-op Food Store’s present site. In 1963, the Co-op moved into its new quarters at 45 South Park Street.

Since then the Co-op has continued to flourish. The Hanover Co-op Food Store has been expanded several times to meet the needs of its growing membership. In 1985, the Co-op purchased the adjacent Park Street Mobil station, now the Co-op Service Center, and in 1995, opened a second Service Center on Lyme Road in Hanover. By 1996, the Co-op had almost 18,000 members, and sales had grown to over $20 million. Members voted to open a second Co-op Food Store in order to relieve crowding at the popular Hanover store. The Lebanon Co-op Food Store opened in October, 1997.

Membership in the Co-op grew by leaps and bounds with the opening of the Lebanon store, and once again, the Hanover Co-op felt the pressure of increased patronage. In May 1999, the Co-op converted the Lyme Road Service Center into a convenience store, keeping the gas pumps and adding a selection of grocery items to what was renamed the Co-op Community Food Market. By mid-2000, membership in the Co-op stood at 20,000 households representing over 30,000 individual members.

This story is vividly told by founding members of the Co-op in the video “Hand in Hand: A History of the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society,” available from the Co-op’s lending library.