As we roll into the UN International Year of Cooperatives (IYC2025) and our 90th year of existence as a consumer cooperative (2026), we have a lot to celebrate. Originally starting as a buying club to bring in products hard to come by during the Depression, the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society, Inc. has grown to be a $90+ million business with more than 36,000 member-owners.
Cooperatives are created to meet a need. We strive to stay rooted in our community and build our business to be people-centered, guided by our evolving principles and member values. We care about how we do business, what kind of employer we are, what kind of environmental impact we have, and how we contribute to making a positive impact in our community.
strength & unity
Farmers and owners of a woman-owned worker cooperative in Rwanda.
Cooperatives contribute to the sustainable economic growth and stable, quality employment, providing jobs or work opportunities to 280 million people across the globe—10% of the world’s employed population. (World Cooperative Monitor)
And it’s not just us! Your local credit union, your electric cooperative, resident-owned communities (ROCs) and housing cooperatives, and worker cooperatives (to name a few) all use the cooperative model to organize around and serve a community need.
This Saturday, July 5th, is the International Day of Cooperatives, so let’s celebrate this impactful way of doing business – not for shareholder benefit or lining the pockets of CEOs but by the community and for the community.
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April Harkness is the Co-op’s Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Program Manager.
