Australia

University Co-operative Bookshop Ltd, Australia's largest consumer cooperative, established by students in 1958, has grown to become the largest provider of educational, professional and lifelong learning resources in Australia. With over 40 branches across Australia, a comprehensive website and presence on the internet since even before the web, numerous additional services and over 1.3 million lifetime members, the Co-op is more than just a bookshop. The Wine Society (Australian Wine Consumers Co-operative Society Limited), established in 1946, now has over 58,000 members. Also sources and sells premium wines under the Society label, runs comprehensive wine education courses and recognizes excellence from young winemakers.

Europe In the United Kingdom, the nationwide Co-operative Group, formerly the Co-operative Wholesale Society (or "CWS"), owns many of its own supermarkets, as well as supplying goods wholesale to the majority of British cooperative societies, providing a common branding and logo. In Ireland the Dublin Food Coop has been in operation since 1983. In Scandinavia, the national cooperations of Norway, Sweden and Denmark joined as Coop Norden in January 2002.

In Italy the Coop Italia chain formed by many sub-cooperatives controlled 17.7% of the grocery market in 2005. In Finland the S Group is owned by 22 regional cooperatives and 19 local cooperative stores, which in turn are owned by their customers. In 2005 the S Group overtook its nearest rival Kesko Oyjwith a 36% share of retail grocery sales compared to Keskos 28%. In France Coop Atlantique own 7 hypermarkets 39 supermarkets and about 200 conveniences store. Japan Japan has a very large and well-developed consumer cooperative movement with over 14 million members; retail co-ops alone had a combined turnover of 2.519 trillion Yen (21.184 billion U.S. Dollars [market exchange rates as of 11/15/2005]) in 2003/4. In Japan, Co-op

Kobe () in the Hygo Prefecture is the largest retail cooperative in Japan and, with over 1.2 million members, is one of the largest cooperatives in the world. In addition to retail coops there are medical, housing and insurance co-ops alongside institutional (workplace based) co-ops, co-ops for school teachers and university based co-ops. Approximately 1 in 5 of all Japanese households belongs to a local retail co-op and 90% of all co-op members are women. (Takamura, 1995). Nearly 6 million households belong to one of the 1,788,000 Han groups (Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union., 2003). These consist of a group of five to ten members in a neighbourhood who place a combined weekly order which is then delivered by truck the following week. A particular strength of Japanese consumer co-ops in

recent years has been the growth of community supported agriculture where fresh produce is sent direct to consumers from producers without going through the market. North America In the United States, the PCC (Puget Consumers Cooperative) Natural Markets in Seattle is the largest consumer-owned food cooperative. The National Cooperative Grocers

Associationmaintains a food cooperative directory. Seattle-based R.E.I., which specializes in outdoor sporting equipment, is the largest consumer cooperative in the United States. Similarly, outdoor retailer Mountain Equipment Co-op in Canada, is one of the country's major consumer cooperatives. In the Canadian Prairie provinces, gas stations, lumberyards, and grocery stores can be under the coop brand. All credit unions in the United States and Canada are financial cooperatives.