The Ten Acres and Stirchley Street Co-operative Society (later TASCO), as it states in the picture above, was established on 1875. It was begun in the front room of a house on Hazelwell Lane, the house in the photograph below, by the group of men also pictured. The humble little shop opened its doors on 5 June that year.
The history of co-op’s goes back to 1844, when the first was set up in Rochdale, Lancashire. The food sold to working people was often either expensive, or of poor quality and mixed with other, less edible, ingredients. Co-op’s charged a weekly subscription, so that food could be bought in larger quantities and sold at a more reasonable price. TASCO’s charged 1/- a week when it first operated.
TASCO’s got of to a good start, and in 1878 a new premises was built on the Pershore Road (where the Co-op Funeralcare shop is today). There was an entrance for horse-drawn carts in the centre and meeting rooms upstairs. The goods for sale diversified to sell not only food but drapery, shoes and more. TASCO’s, though, got off to a shaky start. It nearly collapsed in the 1880s, but by 1890 membership had doubled. Twelve new branches opened before the First World War commenced in 1914.
In 1915 a grand new Co-operative building was built on the corner of Hazelwell Street and Umberslade Road, on two storeys, the frontage divided to provide for several window displays. The building was demolished and replaced with a new, plain, Co-op building which is now Morrison’s.
In 1971, TASCO’s joined with the Birmingham Co-operative Society, and was absorbed into that larger organisation.
Some of the TASCO buildings survive in the Stirchley area, such as the central bakery which opened in 1891, and still has the stone with the date engraved. Apparently, the logo of Stirchley Community Market was inspired by the stone. If you wander down the Pershore Road in Stirchley you can see the building.