Co-Ops Collectively a Big Business

The latest listing the nation’s top 100 revenue-earning cooperative businesses shows such enterprises pulled in a total $325 billion. The NCB Co-op 100, compiled by National Cooperative Bank, is the only annual report of its kind to track the profits and successes of cooperative businesses in the United States.

Though co-ops are predominantly from the agriculture sector, accounting for exactly half of all the members of the roster — the top two finishers in the latest list are both in that business — some other sectors with retail components also major players in their fields.

Those sectors and their largest finishers include:

Grocery:

• Wakefern Food Corp./Shoprite (Keasbey, N.J.) finished fifth overall, with $12.7 billion in revenue (in 2023, the latest year final figures are available for). Wakefern describes itself as the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the United States, comprising 50 member companies who independently own and operate 365 retail supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage, Fairway Market and Di Bruno Bros. in nine Eastern states.
• Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. (Kansas City, Kan.) placed sixth with reported revenue of $12.4 billion. The company is a cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, serving 1100 member companies and more than 3500 locations throughout 33 states.

Hardware & Lumber:

• ACE Hardware Corp. (Oak Brook, Ill.) came in 10th, thanks to its $9.1 billion in revenue. With more than 5000 stores around the globe, ACE describes itself as the largest non-agricultural co-op in the world.
• Do-it-Best Corp. (Fort Wayne, Ind.) earned 13th place, with $4.8 billion reported in revenue. Editor’s note: Do-It Best has just announced plans to get even bigger, by acquiring the assets of True Value; that move would give the combined companies a total of about 8000 stores.

Recreational:

• REI (Kent, Wash.), a member-owned cooperative which ranked 16th. It operates 180-plus stores and had annual revenues of $3.76 billion.

“While cooperatives may offer similar goods and services as publicly traded firms, they use a distinctly different business model,” notes Casey Fanon, President and CEO of National Cooperative Bank. “Co-ops operate for the benefit of their member-owners and communities. Having a vested interest in a co-op fosters a natural closeness and accountability between owners/members and management.”

Click here for the full report.