Coop is a chain of consumer co-operative owned grocery stores in Sweden, organised under Kooperativa Förbundet (KF).
Coop Sverige AB coordinates purchasing, marketing and shared services for the chain's approximately 800 stores,[1] which are owned and operated by local consumer organisations or their franchisees.
[6] By 2024, Kooperativa Förbundet had declined from once being Scandinavia's largest company with 80 000 employees to owning a grocery store chain with acculumating losses.
In the early 1900s, the Swedish market had a lot of cartel formations in various consumer-facing industries which pushed Coop to acquire or start its own manufacturing operations in order to offer cheaper prices.
Coop built up a large variety of brands and factories, e.g. Hugin vacuum cleaners, Gislaved tyres, Eve butter, Gustavsberg porcelain and others.
Around 1990, KF decided to concentrate on the grocery retail business and had already begun and continued to sell off its manufacturing and real estate portfolio.