Producer co-ops generally are at least somewhat prevalent.
Two notable former examples are Visa and Mastercard (they've since reverted to publicly-traded corporations, in the aughts). Both were originally formed as co-operative ventures among member banks, effectively a producer co-op.
I've looked into worker co-ops previously, and noted that most examples seem to have relatively simple organisational needs, with typical sectors being food-service (restaurants and cafes), publishers, acting troupes, and if memory serves, a political party. Mondragon is notable for being an industrial manufacturing company.
There are also worker-owned (though not necessarily co-operative) businesses, such as Bob's Red Mill (milling and cereal products).
Consumer co-ops saw popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, but have largely faded from view. A niche they had occupied, "natural food store" is now dominated by Amazon through its Whole Foods subsidiary, though there are some independent co-ops still extant, often in quite unexpected locations. Three Rivers Market in Knoxville, TN, comes to mind.
Credit Unions are another often overlooked case of co-ops --- both in terms of being neglected over commercial banks and not being recognised as co-operative businesses.
The Nonprofit Quartery ran a recent article on recent trends in co-ops in 2022:
I think Bob basically gifted the company to the employees (they bought in over 10 years, but at a valuation far lower than Bob could have got selling the company to an acquirer).
> Consumer co-ops saw popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, but have largely faded from view. A niche they had occupied, "natural food store" is now dominated by Amazon through its Whole Foods subsidiary, though there are some independent co-ops still extant,
You missed a chance to mention PCC Community Markets, the USA's largest grocery store co-op, who are also located in Seattle!
(And just like Amazon, PCC was recently in a union labor dispute!)
In the '90s/'00s I worked at the Davis Food Co-Op in Davis, CA which was one of the largest full-service (meaning not just hippie health food) consumer-owned grocery co-ops at the time. After working in the bakery I was on the Board for 3 years, a fascinating experience (we followed the Carver Policy Governance model, where the board is basically the legislative/judicial branch and the CEO is executive).
When a Whole Foods opened across town, they shut down in less than a year largely because of the strength/quality/loyalty of the Davis Food Co-Op.
Producer co-ops generally are at least somewhat prevalent.
Two notable former examples are Visa and Mastercard (they've since reverted to publicly-traded corporations, in the aughts). Both were originally formed as co-operative ventures among member banks, effectively a producer co-op.
I've looked into worker co-ops previously, and noted that most examples seem to have relatively simple organisational needs, with typical sectors being food-service (restaurants and cafes), publishers, acting troupes, and if memory serves, a political party. Mondragon is notable for being an industrial manufacturing company.
There are also worker-owned (though not necessarily co-operative) businesses, such as Bob's Red Mill (milling and cereal products).
Consumer co-ops saw popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, but have largely faded from view. A niche they had occupied, "natural food store" is now dominated by Amazon through its Whole Foods subsidiary, though there are some independent co-ops still extant, often in quite unexpected locations. Three Rivers Market in Knoxville, TN, comes to mind.
Credit Unions are another often overlooked case of co-ops --- both in terms of being neglected over commercial banks and not being recognised as co-operative businesses.
The Nonprofit Quartery ran a recent article on recent trends in co-ops in 2022:
<https://nonprofitquarterly.org/where-are-new-co-ops-emerging...>
News of a 2015 list of the top 100 US co-ops:
<https://www.thenews.coop/list-top-100-co-ops-usa-released/>
And the 2023 listing: <https://impact.ncb.coop/hubfs/Co-op%20100%202023%20Report%20...> (PDF)
Breakout:
- Ag: 47 firms, $187.6 billion (59%)
- Finance: 17 firms, $39.1 billion (12%)
- Grocery: 8 firms, $33.1 billion (10%)
- Energy: 22 firms, $26.8 billion (8%)
- Hardware: 3 firms, $18.6 billion (6%)
- Other: 3 firms, $13.4 billion (4%)