Coop Estonia: the leader in cooperative trade in Estonia

Coop Estonia’s consumer cooperatives are associations created by the people whose aim is to maintain regional communities by improving local trading.

Coop Estonia (previously ETK) is Estonia's oldest and biggest group in retail trade. Today the co-op family includes 18 consumer cooperatives all over the country. The Coop Eesti Keskühistu or central association, which was established in 1917, offers a range of services to these cooperatives, from central logistics to cooperative marketing.

Coop is not owned by any one businessman or corporation: it has always been owned by Estonian consumers and currently has nearly 80,000 client-owners. The greatest difference between cooperatives and private trade is that profit is not a purpose in and of itself – the end goal is to use the profit to keep shops open close to people all over Estonia, to develop the sales environment and to contribute to the development of local communities.

Cooperative trading dates back to the mid-19th century. The name Coop is short for ‘cooperative’, which implies cooperation and working together. It has been taken up by cooperatives all over the world for transparency and better cooperation.