HISTORY
July 19, 2019

Mid Island Co-op – A Proud Tradition

Like everything we do at the Co-op, writing our history is a collaborative project. If you have a story, a document or photo or any information about our Co-op, please bring it in to the Bowen Road store or contact us by e-mail. With your help, our history will continue to grow on these pages.


The Co-op idea takes root


Probably everybody who lives in and around Nanaimo has heard of the Co-op. In fact, though we’ve been known by a few different names, it’s still just ‘the Co-op’ to most people. And it is probably one of the best-known institutions in our community.

It’s perhaps surprising, then, to discover that the Co-op’s history is not a long one. It begins about 50 years ago, when a small group of people connected with the Credit Union and led by Rod Glen began to wonder out loud why a community that enthusiastically supported a Credit Union did not have a consumers’ Co-operative.

That meeting of course led to others, and lots of them. But on September 28, 1959 a Memorandum of Association was signed to form Mid-Island Consumer Services Co-operative. The first services provided were home heating fuel and gasoline, and a bulk oil plant and gas station were built. Three years after the Memorandum was signed, the first gallon of gas (we weren’t metric in 1962) was pumped.


Strong support ignites price war

The next two decades were very busy ones for the Co-op. The gas outlet in Chase River was a great success, but that led to demand for a new outlet closer to town. And no sooner was the new outlet established than the Co-op was involved in its first price war, a nice reminder that history does repeat itself.

Though the decision to approve in principle a retail outlet for consumer goods was made in 1964, more than six years would pass before the Harewood Store would open, and only after a huge membership campaign had been carried out. Once open, though, the store was a huge success, and it took only three more years before a second store was opened.


Co-op expands and changes

Both the Harewood and Bowen Road stores were expanded within five years of construction, and in 1979 the Co-op was the biggest game in town. The headline in the local paper said “Nanaimo lines up to buy at the co-op” and the writer of the article estimated that “75 per cent of the families in Nanaimo already shop at the Hub Co-op.”

When the Harewood store opened in 1971, it was known as Tru-Mart. The first issue of the Newsletter (March 25, 1971 declared that Tru-mart was the “Household Supplies Division” of the Mid-Island Consumer Services Co-operative, better known to the members as “Hub Co-op.”

The newsletter also made it very clear that Tru-mart was not a grocery store in the sense it was set up to “sell” anything; rather it was more like a warehouse, a purchasing agency that bought products for members at wholesale and offered them to members at wholesale plus costs.


Member cards, grease pens, and self-bagging

Shoppers at Tru-Mart also had to demonstrate their commitment to the Co-op. They had to sign a service agreement with the Co-op by which they agreed to purchase $80.00 worth of shares, and they also had to agree to make purchases “for members of my household only.”

The early days of shopping at the Co-op also required some small sacrifices. For example, you had to pick up your membership card which the cashier would duly mark, and you would also pick up a grease pencil to mark the prices on your groceries. Old hands and experienced co-operators were recognizable by the fact they seemed to bring their own (better quality) marking pencils.


Co-op leads in innovation

The Co-op was not, however, slow to modernize and improve its services. In fact it was apparently the first to introduce electronic scanners, and there were Co-op express lanes unlike those in any other stores: the cashier would take four small orders in a row and then one large one. In the later 80’s a bakery-deli was opened at each store.


The only thing we can truly count on is change itself

The Co-op, today, has changed and evolved as a result of the times. Clearly the stiff competition, the proliferation of other grocery outlets and multi-national warehouse chains have taken their toll. Although we’ve now seen the closure of the Harewood and Bowen grocery stores, the Co-op is still a major economic and social player in our community.

The petroleum figures are impressive: our sales are over $124 million per year, and all profits stay in our community through member allocations and supporting community events, youth, children, seniors and more.

The Co-op’s first fifty years have been challenging and exciting; and we expect the next 40 years will bring more challenges and exciting changes.

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