In neighbouring Finland, the largest grocery chain (S-ryhmä, using brand S-market) is also a co-operative. It is the merger result of the so called "red" and "w

In neighbouring Finland, the largest grocery chain (S-ryhmä, using brand S-market) is also a co-operative. It is the merger result of the so called "red" and "white" co-op chains. S-ryhmä, together with the private chain of stores (K-ryhmä) are now seen as a politically corrupt duopoly which is responsible for the high price of food in the country. S-ryhmä "owns" many politicians and have a disproportionately large influence on zoning decisions made by municipalities so that competing stores face a barrier of entry to market as they cannot get a plot to build a shop. The locally emerging German giant, Lidl, is seen as a healthy influence here, bringing some competition to the market. So, all in all, co-ops are not inherently good. (Market share: S-shops have 46 %, K-shops have 33 %, Lidl has 8 %. Spar has all but disappeared. S-shops sell much of the same stuff as you find in a Co-op in Sweden, as they work together in purchasing logistics to achieve economies of scale.) (PS: If you see a shop marked with "KKK" in Finland, don't worry, it's not owned by the Ku Klux Klan. The K group just has different sizes of shops, small corner shops are "K", medium-sized markets are "KK" and hypermarkets are "KKK".)