Rochester Co-operative Society, Rochester

Founded in 1884, the Rochester Co-operative Society beginnings were humble. There is very little information about this particular component of the co-operative movement but the few documents available suggest it amalgated with other societies and changed its name accordingly. By the mid-1900s it had evolved into the Rochester and District Co-operative Society, before becoming in the early 1920s the Rochester and District Co-operative and Industrial Society Ltd.
In the mid-1920s the co-operative owned several oulets located at 21-27 and 33 High Street. Some of these were demolished and in 1928 a brand new department store was inaugurated. There, by the main entrance, the Co-operative proudly displayed its logo on a doorstep mosaic.

RCS
If the logo incorporated only the initials of the original co-operative society, its full name -Rochester and District Co-operative and Industrial Society Ltd- stretched along the façade as a picture taken c. 1955 shows.

Location: High Street, Rochester, Kent / Picture taken on: 26/06/2011