Falklands : Stanley Co-op to Close at End of June
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 20.06.2008 (Article Archived on 04.07.2008)
After 50 years the Stanley Co-op is going to close.
CO-OP TO CLOSE AT END OF JUNE
By J. Brock (FINN)
One of the Falklands most relevant retail outlets is set to close at the end of the Month. According to an interview with Committee Member, Malcolm Ashworth on FIRS on Thursday, 19 June 2008, the Co-op is closing because “basically, the Co-op no longer has sufficient funds to meet its liabilities.”
The Co-op began its commercial life as the Government Employees’ Canteen beginning in the early 1950s and open only to FIG employees. This evolved into a co-op that was open to investors and, in 1987, the Co-operative Societies Ordinance made the service available to the community as a whole.
According to the interview the retail sector had become increasingly competitive and, due to a variety of reasons, the Co-op hasn’t been able to remain competitive with the other retail outlets available in the Falklands. Mr Ashworth said that the members had not been as involved in the management of the Co-op as they could have been and the Co-op had been managed by a few people who may not have taken the right decisions and who may not have been advised as well as they could have been.
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