Coop (Switzerland)

Coop is a cooperative supermarket in Switzerland. Coop was founded in 1864 by Jean Jenny-Ryffel. The company's CEO is Philipp Wyss. Coop operates both a retail and a wholesale/production group. Its retail side operates only in Switzerland, while its wholesale/production groups operate in countries all over Europe. Coop has nearly 2,500 stores and sales outlets.

The Coop company, as it exists today, is a merger of several different cooperative groups from Switzerland. Jean Jenny-Ryffel formed Coop as Switzerland's first cooperative in 1864, originally called Schwander Consumer Cooperative. Other cooperatives in Switzerland were built in the following years. In 1890, Schwander Consumer Cooperative and several other cooperatives merged into one group called Verband Schweizerischer Konsumvereine. In 1969, the name was changed to Coop Switzerland. After numerous other mergers over the years, all remaining Coop societies were integrated into Coop Switzerland in 2001.