In 1918, four more farms were bought on the Newtonhall Estate and in 1919, 780 acres were purchased at Bonnington, all near Ratho at that time in Midlothian.

St Cuthbert's expanded to become one of the largest societies in the British co-operative movement, employing some 3,000 at its peak.

St Cuthbert's had many shops throughout Edinburgh, including a department store in Bread Street which was built in three stages to designs by three architects: John McLachlan in 1892; Thomas P. Marwick in 1898 and 1914 and Thomas Waller Marwick in 1936.

The 1930s section features a glass 'curtain wall', the first of its kind in Scotland, in contrast to the stone facades of its late 19th-/early 20th-century neighbours.

The store closed in the early 1990s and buildings were converted for use as the Point Hotel and Conference Centre in 1999.