Otter Co-op: Aldergrove's member-owned co-op since 1922

Otter Co-op is one of the oldest businesses still going in Aldergrove. The Aldergrove Star describes it as incorporated in 1922 and the longest-running business in town that still operates. It is a co-operative, which means the people who shop there can become its owners.

What you can buy

Both the Chamber listing and the Aldergrove Star describe a one-stop shop: groceries, clothing, hardware, farm, lawn and garden supplies, and animal feed. The newspaper also mentions a pharmacy and a café and deli at the Aldergrove Retail Centre, and fuel is part of the picture through the co-op’s gas bars. The Chamber listing says the same prices apply to members and non-members.

How membership works

The Chamber listing says members become owners and share in the co-op’s profits each year. The Aldergrove Star describes annual cash patronage dividends based on what members buy, and says the co-op gives hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to community and charitable causes. Neither source says what membership costs, so ask at the store.

A bit of history

The 1922 start is the date the Aldergrove Star gives. The Pitt Meadows Museum’s history of the co-op adds the other side of the river: the Otter Co-op became the feed supplier to Pitt Meadows’ Consumers’ Co-op, opened a feed mill and warehouse there in 1967, and absorbed the Consumers’ Co-op in a merger completed on April 27, 2009. The museum says that site was sold to make way for the Harris Road underpass and stopped operating at the end of 2022. The Aldergrove Star article is undated, so its figures about the number of locations may be older than today’s. The Chamber listing mentions a feed mill in Armstrong, a pharmacy in Abbotsford and gas bars across the Lower Mainland and Penticton; treat that as a snapshot and check the co-op’s own site.

The Abbotsford pharmacy’s HealthLink BC entry lists it at 250-3270 Mt Lehman Road, Abbotsford, with hours Monday to Friday 10:00 to 18:00 and Saturday 9:00 to 17:00. HealthLink BC notes hours may change, so call ahead.

Nearby

Aldergrove has plenty to see around the co-op. Our Aldergrove guide is a good next stop, and the Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre is close by. For more on local farms and food, see farming and agriculture in Langley. The Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce lists local businesses.

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