Based on childhood recollections
of shops in Edmonton, north London in Edwardian times.
CWS stood for Cooperative Wholesale Society, and its shop was generally known as the Co-op.
The Co-op making a horse-drawn delivery, Edmonton, 1910.
The Co-op would issue chits which were little perforated squares listing the amount you spent at any given visit to the shop. Customers had a Co-op number which was written onto each chit. Every quarter of the year the Co-op gave its customers what was called a dividend, which was a certain amount back for every pound spent. Dividend was given on everything that the shop sold, including deliveries of milk and bread. My mother also bought her shoes there under the brand name of 'Wheat sheaf'. Dividend was a good incentive to shop at the Co-op.
Co-op delivery bicycle. Photographed in the Museum of Nottingham Life
If you have an old photo which illustrates the way of life that my mother describes, I would very much appreciate a copy. Pat Cryer
SHOPS AND SHOPPING
............................
the shopping process
............................
money in use
............................
buying by weight
............................
the baker
............................
the butcher
............................
the fishmonger
............................
the cobbler / shoe-mender
............................
the draper
............................
the co-op
............................
the dairy
............................
the chemist
............................
the greengrocer
............................
the grocer
............................
the ironmonger / hardware shop
............................
the pawnbroker
............................
the sweet shop
............................
the Post Office
............................
the barber
............................
the corn-chandler
............................
the newsagent
............................