Imagine Saskatchewan in the early years of the 20th century — more pigs and cattle than people, more acres of land than people. Uprooted and alone in the midst of a vast prairie, is it any wonder newcomers banded together in churches, schools and even businesses. From solitude and isolation arose the need to come together, and for some, to form co-operatives and gain strength in numbers.
Co-operatives appeared in Saskatchewan almost as soon as settlers appeared. Most early co-ops grew on farms and country towns, started by farmers as buying clubs to purchase farm supplies at a better rate than one farmer alone could get.
Buying clubs led eventually to independent retail co-op stores. In the First World War years from 1914 to 1918, the demand for Canadian produce overseas sparked consumer and producer co-ops. By the 1920s, there were numerous independent co-op stores in Saskatchewan. The Co-op Store in the WDM Heritage Village is typical of an early grocery store offering produce, fresh meat, dressed poultry and eggs, along with hardware and dry goods.
Beginning in 1928, autonomous retailers from the prairie provinces got together to form co-operative wholesale systems. The Saskatchewan Co-operative Wholesale Society was incorporated Feb. 2, 1929, marking the birth of the official co-op retailing system in Saskatchewan.
The Heritage Village Co-op Store was built in the flurry of museum construction that marked Canada’s centennial year in 1967, opening officially on Sept. 11, 1968. Fittingly, building the store was a co-operative project. The WDM was supported by Federated Co-operatives Limited, the Retail Co-operatives of Northwest Saskatchewan and 17 co-operative associations from nearby towns and villages such as Mervin, Meadow Lake, Lloydminster, Luseland, Pierceland and North Battleford.
That was many years ago. Today the Co-op Store in the Heritage Village is showing its age. Proceeds from the WDM’s Great Escapes Vacation Raffle are earmarked for much-needed repairs to the 46-year-old building.
