CO-OP
__
Year: 1957
Designer: Unknown
Studio: Unknown
Status: Active (brand updated)
Industry: Retail, Agriculture, Housing, Finance, and Community Services
__
www.co-op.crs
I grew up in a small hamlet called Nelles Corners—a tiny farming community in southern Ontario. CO-OP was a familiar brand throughout our farm life, its name stamped on many of the supplies my dad kept stocked in his workshop. Before harvesting the golden wheat in our fields, he’d check over the Cockshutt combine and load up the grease gun with CO-OP’s grease, then methodically make his way around our 1970s Cockshutt—lubricating every chain, grease fitting, box, and moving joint.
In the weeks after the August harvest, we’d ready the fields for winter wheat. I can still picture my father loading our International seed planter with CO-OP’s familiar seed bags.
The CO-OP emblem was introduced in 1957—modest in design, with red letters framed by a green shield. I never thought much about it. It was just there—printed on seed sacks, grease tins, and supplies scattered around the shop. But thinking about it now, the emblem symbolizes so much more—hard work, long hours, community, and the quiet chore rituals of farm life. In 1974, the logo was slightly updated—losing the green shield and shifting to an all-red mark. The change didn’t take away from what it represented. It still carries the weight of tradition, the strength of shared ownership, and a sense of belonging that stretches across generations of Canadian farm families.
CO-OP is owned and operated by Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL), a co-operative organization founded in 1928. What began as a small network of local CO-OP’s grew into a national brand—once a common sight in grocery stores and supermarkets across small towns in Western Canada. Over the decades, FCL expanded into wholesaling, manufact-uring, marketing, and administrative support. Today, more than 160 independent local co-operatives across the country own and operate CO-OP-branded agro centers, food stores, gas bars, convenience stores, and home centers.
▲ This photo evokes a familiar warmth—those quiet, sticky summer evenings spent darting through golden fields as the sun dipped below the horizon. Photo: Kristie, The Little Vikings
-
1. Grain elevator, Mossleigh Alberta, Bernard Spragg – 2007
2. My father in his Cockshutt Combine with his three daughters – c. 1985 / Black & white photo of a grease gun in use / CO-OP Grease bucket
2. CO-OP pole sign, Lafleche, Saskatchewan, Andrew Filer – 2009
3. CO-OP full service gas station, The History of Fueling Up in Western Canada – 1960
4. CO-OP Mineral Gear Oil SAE 80, 1 imperial gallon (collage mock-up)
5. Kindersley CO-OP oil truck & tanker next to the Federated Co-operatives Limited building, Saskatoon Public Library – 1957
6. CO-OP feed sack (mock-up), Diego Catto – 2019
7. CO-OP Bulk Plant, Portage, Saskatchewan, Federated Co-operative Limited – 1960
