Coop amba
Coop headquarter in Albertslund
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| Limited liability cooperative (AmbA) | |
| Founded | January 1, 1896 |
| Founder | Severin Jørgensen |
| Headquarters | Roskildevej 65, Albertslund, Denmark |
| Divisions | Coop Danmark, Coop Bank, Coop Invest |
| Website | coop |
Coop amba, formerly FDB (short for Danish Consumers Cooperative Society, in English) is a cooperative based in Denmark. The coop has 1.6 million members. It has three subsidiaries. Coop Danmark operates the following stores: Kvickly, Brugsen, SuperBrugsen, Dagli'Brugsen, LokalBrugsen, Fakta, and Irma supermarkets. Coop Bank and Coop Invest are its other subsidiaries.
An association of cooperatives formed in Zealand in 1884 was first named the Fællesforeningen for Danmarks Brugsforeninger, but the present FDB was founded in 1896 from a merger between that association and the cooperative association for Jutland. In 1897, it began forming its own factories and brands, some of which – like Cirkel-brand coffee – continue to be successful although most were shuttered in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1918, it helped form the NAF (Nordisk Andels Forbund, "Nordic Coop Federation") which later became Coop Norden AB. In 1952, it opened the first viable supermarket in the Faroes at Thorshavn.
FDB originally focused on manufacturing and wholesaling, branding its retail operations simply "Brugsen" ("Coop"). In 1961, it opened the Kvickly chain in Aalborg, which sold clothes and hardware in addition to food. It merged with the large Hovedstadens Brugsforening supermarket chain in 1971 and opened the discount OBS! chain in 1972 at Høje Tåstrup. By the 1980s, the company began shuttering its factories and focusing more on retail operations. It purchased Irma in 1982 and Fakta in 1987. Between 1991 and 1995, it rebranded its own stores as the SuperBrugsen supermarkets, the Dagli'Brugsen local markets, and the LokalBrugsen convenience stores.
All of these outlets were placed under Coop Danmark in 2001 in preparation for the 2002 union of its operations with those of Norway's NKL and Sweden's KF as Coop Norden. FDB held a 38% stake in the new unitary company, but its poor performance caused the parent companies to redivide its operations by 2008. FDB continued to organize its retailers under the Coop Denmark heading, and in January 2013, FDB changed its name to Coop.
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