The historic Społem retail network, an icon of the Polish cooperative movement, is struggling with a progressive process of store closures across the country. According to media reports, the network, which during the communist era numbered up to 11,000 outlets, has shrunk to around 2,000, and that number continues to fall. In recent years and months, dozens of stores have been closed, including in Łódź, where an entire local cooperative was liquidated, as well as in Szczecin, Warsaw, and Pruszków. The main cause of the problems is the inability to compete with global discount chains such as Biedronka and Lidl, as well as internal fragmentation of the cooperative structure.
Mass closure of Społem stores
The historic Polish retail network is closing outlets across the country. Recently, all stores of one of the Łódź cooperatives were liquidated, along with outlets in Szczecin, Warsaw, and Pruszków. Since 2019, around 50 stores have been closed, and this process continues and is accelerating.
Causes: competition and fragmentation
The key problem for Społem is competition from international discount chains, mainly the Portuguese Biedronka and the German Lidl. An additional burden is the internal fragmentation of the network into many smaller, independent cooperatives, which weakens its bargaining power with suppliers.
Dramatic decline in the number of outlets
The network, a symbol of Polish trade, is experiencing a drastic drop in the number of stores. During the communist era, Społem had up to 11,000 stores, while currently the number is estimated at just over 2,000, and the trend continues to be downward.
The historic Polish retail network Społem, a symbol of the cooperative movement and an icon of daily shopping from the communist era, is in deep crisis, manifested by the mass closure of its stores across the country. This process, ongoing for years, has significantly accelerated in recent months. According to media reports, around 50 outlets have been closed since 2019. Particularly notable were recent decisions, such as the liquidation of all stores belonging to the Universal Food Cooperative "Społem" in Łódź or the closure of legendary outlets in Szczecin, such as "Stoczniowiec" and "Marianna". Closures have also affected Warsaw, including the Wola district, and Pruszków. The network, once ubiquitous, has dramatically reduced its scale of operations. During the communist era, the number of Społem outlets reached up to 11,000, while currently it is estimated at just over 2,000, and the trend is still declining. The main challenge, as pointed out by cooperative members and market observers, is the inability to compete with the power of international discount chains. Networks such as the Portuguese Biedronka or the German Lidl, thanks to their enormous purchasing scale and operational efficiency, offer customers very competitive prices, which smaller, local cooperatives cannot match. The cooperative movement in Poland has a long tradition dating back to the 19th century, and its development gained particular significance in the interwar period and after World War II. During the communist era, cooperatives, including Społem, formed the basic element of the centralized supply system for the population, often being the only retail point in smaller towns and housing estates. The systemic transformation after 1989 and the opening of the market to foreign capital radically changed the retail landscape, placing traditional, fragmented cooperative structures in the face of unprecedented competition. The second significant cause of Społem's weakening position is the internal fragmentation of the entire structure. As explained by representatives of the community, in the past, larger cooperatives were divided into many smaller, local units. "There was one Łódź Food Cooperative, and they divided it into 14 smaller ones. This was an incredible mistake, because with the competition that entered in later years, we were unable to compete with large stores," quoted one of the involved persons by "Gazeta Wyborcza". Such decentralization deprived the network of economies of scale, particularly in negotiations with suppliers, where combined purchasing power could have secured better price conditions. Consequently, Społem faces a dual challenge: external competitive pressure and internal organizational inconsistency, which prevents an effective response to market challenges. The process of store closures therefore does not appear to be a one-time correction, but a symptom of deeper, structural problems of the traditional cooperative model in a modern economy dominated by global corporations. In place of the closing Społem outlets, new retail formats are increasingly appearing, symbolically closing a certain era in the history of Polish retail trade.