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Origin and history

The Société Coopérative des Mineurs de Nœux-les-Mines was founded on 1 March 1876 by the Compagnie des Mines to offer workers access to consumer products at moderate prices, thus avoiding local speculation. In 1900, it had four stores (Nœux-les-Mines, Coron de la pite n°3, Hersin, Barlin). The buildings, damaged by bombardments in November 1915, were rebuilt after the war, with a metal marquise replaced by a roof covering the loading dock. The cooperative extended along the company's railway in a triangular enclosure, including a long central building, wings, storage docks, a bread oven and offices.

The cooperative was part of a larger industrial complex linked to the Nœux No.1-1 bis pit, opened in 1851 and modernized until its closure in 1968. This mining site, a pioneer with its technical innovations (an oscillating cylinder extraction machine, expanded shaft diameter), was a model for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais mining basin. The cooperative, like the central pharmacy (1927) and the church of Sainte-Barbe, was listed as a historic monument in 2009-2010, demonstrating the social organization around coal mining.

After the nationalization of the mines in 1946, the site moved towards a post-1968 industrial conversion. Today, the facades and roofs of the cooperative (registered on 22 September 2010) recall its economic and social role for the families of minors, in a context marked by the struggles for access to essential goods and the structuring of the working-class cities.

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