ERICKSON CONSUMERS
CO-OPERATIVE LIMITED

The story of the Erickson Consumers Co-operative Limited
begins in the lean and hungry thirties when a group of
neighbors in the Westmount district south of Erickson met
to study the operation of consumer co-operatives. Interest was
so keen and the group grew so large that it was necessary
to operate as two units, Westmount and Otter Lake. The
outcome was the formation of a committee, delegated to
raise money by signing up members and interviewing whole-
salers.

In 1939 the charter was granted and, with grocery and dry
goods stocks purchased from a local merchant, the Co-op
store was opened for business. In 1940, with capital of $1,000
and forty members, a garage building was rented. Later it was
purchased and improved. The first manager was hired at a
salary of $50 per month plus one per cent commission on
sales. There was one clerk.

In the years since 1940 continual progress has been made.
Four years later additional property and stock was purchased.
The newly acquired building was joined to the original store
and operated as a dry goods department. In 1945 another lot
was bought and a filling station erected. From this station a
fuel oil business of nearly 300,000 gallons per year is handled.

A glance at the statement of assets and liabilities in 1941,
after some eighteen months of operation, confirms that savings
to members were $1,412. The figure for the corresponding
period in 1952 is $17,626. It tells its own story.

Through the years, increased membership, heavier stocks
and the deterioration of the building made it imperative that
a new co-op store be built. This became a reality in the
summer of 1953 when a stucco structure sixty feet wide and
one hundred and fifteen feet long was built to replace the
old building. It stands now as the concrete symbol of the
faith of the pioneers in the co-operative movement in the
district. They believed and worked “one for all, and all for
one.”

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