The Co-operative store was the first purpose-built shop to appear on Earlsdon Street. Opened in 1896, it soon attracted such trade that much larger premises were needed. The large site on the corner of Earlsdon Street and Poplar Road was bought, and in 1906 a quite imposing new building was constructed and opened as the new Co-op.
The Co-op continued to expand: in 1930 it took over a butcher’s shop on the corner of Moor Street and Earlsdon Street, followed by a chemist in 1936. At one time it operated six different businesses in six different premises — shoe shop, drapery, men’s wear, wet fish, greengrocery and more. This was eventually found to be inconvenient and uneconomical.
By 1979 plans were made for a complete reorganisation. The entire area the Co-op had occupied since 1896 was cleared, and a new building opened in May 1981. The large corner premises, no longer needed, was taken over as a bedding store. The move unfortunately put an end to Earlsdon’s claim to its unique ‘-ation’ corner: Damnation, Co-operation, Education and Salvation — the City Arms, the Co-op, the school and library, and the Methodist Church — each on one of the four corners of the crossroads.