The Valencian cooperative Consum was born in 1975 in a municipality in the metropolitan area of Valencia, in Alaquàs, with 600 consumer members. The business celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with results that consolidate it as the sixth distribution chain in Spain, with 4.7% of the national market and a 13.45% share in its area of influence – Valencian Community, Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Andalusia and Aragon -, five million member-customers, some 22,000 employees and a thousand establishments, including its own stores or franchises. Charter. “We want to distribute more and more money among our partners but with prudent management: we do not invest in anything that we are not capable of integrating into our business,” says its general director, Antonio Rodríguez Lázaro. The chain has changed its size but not its original values since it was established with 600 members in a municipality in the metropolitan area of Valencia, explains Rodríguez. In 1982 they hired employees as partners and in the early 90s they forged a commercial alliance with the Eroski Group, which was put to an end in 2004 due to differences in management models and commercial policy. At the end of that decade they expanded their presence in Catalonia with the purchase of the Distal and Disbor chains, and in 2024 they acquired nine Kuups centers, which operated under the Economy Cash banner. Rodríguez highlights as a founding value of the cooperative «listening to all interest groups (customers, workers, society, suppliers) to act as a responsible company.» This translates, according to the executive, into a high involvement with the local economy and, above all, with the employees, which explains a degree of customer satisfaction above 85%. In 2024, it had a turnover of 4,707 million euros, 7.3% more than in the previous year, earned 108.7 million euros (7.5% more) and closed the year with a workforce of 21,869 employees despite the impact that It was the damage of October 29. By 2025, Consum expects to exceed 5,000 million euros in turnover, more than five million member-customers, some 23,000 workers and a commercial network of 1,000 establishments between its own stores and its Charter franchises in the autonomous communities of the Spanish Mediterranean arc. The cooperative, chaired by Francesc Llobell, will maintain its usual pace of openings next year, with around 18 new supermarkets and 35 Charter franchises in its expansion areas. In addition, to reinforce distribution in Castilla-La Mancha and the central area, Consum is working on a new logistics platform in Noblejas (Toledo) that is expected to enter service in 2027 – it is being built. The other large comprehensive logistics platform in the project is that of Aldaia (Valencia) to support growth in the Valencian Community and with an investment of 250 million euros. The general director of Consum, Antonio Rodríguez Lázaro.Consum «A characteristic of ours is that we have been very prudent in management and decisions because we have many families that depend on Consum and we have to be responsible. We make investment decisions that we can assume without having an economic problem for the cooperative,» explains the first executive of the distribution chain. «If we were looking for a similar group in Europe, the one that would be most similar to Consum is Coop Italia or Coop Switzerland. And in Spain we are very similar to Eroski. The Andalusian Covirán is also similar in terms of a food group. Then we also have Anecoop, an agricultural cooperative. Also Caixa Popular, a credit cooperative,» the manager lists. In the cooperative model there are all advantages, according to Rodríguez. «We are a competitive company and in the commercial part we function like any other in the sector. We are competitive in salaries but we also have bonuses and we distribute the benefits among the workers. And then we have very advanced labor conciliation measures. For example, we are the only cooperative company in the distribution sector in which the workers, even if the stores open six days, work only five days and get off two.» From a commercial point of view, Consum takes pride in having maintained the retail fresh sales model. «There are many people who buy at the counters because, in addition to being a fresher product than the packaged one, they like that type of model. And another defining element in their management is that they keep the leading brands in the range on their shelves, not just the Consum brand or white label, analyzes the general director. The chain sells 85% of products from manufacturers’ brands and the remaining 15% would be Consum brand. The secret of the relationship with suppliers pivots on both gaining market share. Between the 96% and 98% of the product that Consum sells is national. Online sales have been developed but it weighs little on sales, specifically 1.7%. The circular economy is another maxim of the cooperative, which recycles all cardboard and plastic packaging. The chain aims to organically grow 18 its own stores and 35 Charter franchises per year “until we can”, which means that they will grow between 4.5 and 5% in sales in the coming years, the general director estimates. «We want to distribute more and more money among the partners but with prudent management: we do not invest in anything that we are not capable of integrating into our business,» he adds. Some time ago they explored the possibility of opening a chain of gas stations but abandoned the idea because it did not fit the cooperative model.
Simplify overregulation
Its expansion continues in the eastern part of Andalusia, with a presence in Almería, Granada and Jaén, and in the rest of the communities where it is already established. Next year they plan to open their first Consum store in Malaga. They do not see an expansion beyond Spain because «we still have a lot of market and opportunities here. Our model involves having fresh product close to our stores and we need logistics platforms nearby to supply them,» he adds. They ask public administrations that the social economy stops being “the eternally forgotten one” when legislating. “The sector needs overregulation in the food sector to be simplified because it greatly harms the competitiveness of companies,” explains Rodríguez, who also admits a serious problem, this general one, with work absenteeism due to delays in procedures and tests. «The legislation must be simplified. There are 1,345 regulations that we apply in Spain to the commercial distribution sector,» he says. How do you see Consum in five years? Its general director sees it as one of the main distribution companies in Spain, in a better position than now. As for their expansion, they will continue in the territories where they already are, although they see the possibility of opening a store in the Community of Madrid, where they are known because many Madrid residents spend their summers in Cullera, Benicàssim, Gandia or Almería. «We have a lot of partners from Madrid in those places who ask us why we don’t open in their autonomous community. We have a project next year in Seseña, 43 kilometers from Madrid,» adds Rodríguez, who warns that if they open in that community they will not apply time freedom. “If we open we will do so from Monday to Saturday, just like the rest,” he concludes.
