Case study: Good Press

How do we operate?

All cooperative members are directors and we make collective decisions about how the business is run. Responsibilites are allocated to different members of the team such as bookbuying, accounts, printing, events management and stock management. We make decisions by consensus at monthly meetings.

Where did we come from?

Good Press was founded in 2011 as a bookshop, and ran by a shifting team of volunteers for ten years before forming as a cooperative. We began the bookshop as a place for independent and self publishing in the arts, with a focus on supporting the production and distribution. We maintain an open submission policy when it comes to stocking publications to try promote access to small publishing.

Why are we a co-op?

Although Good Press was run as an informal group and managed by a sole trader in its early years, decisions were always made among the collective, so it made sense to incorporate as a cooperative when we were able to do so and share ownership of the business among its workers.

Lessons learned

We should have incorporated many years earlier, as it was difficult to detangle the finances after having been managed as a sole trader for so long. It can be difficult, and is still an ongoing concern (!) to define what is a group responsibility and what is a responsibility for an individual member, so would advise spending time among coop members when starting out to get that nice and clear.