Leith Provident Co-operative Society

Leith Provident Co-operative Society was founded in 1878, and, like most such societies, was based on the principle of being owned and controlled by its members and being operated for their benefit. Rather than profits from the business going to one owner, they were distributed to all the members as a ‘dividend’. Each time they made a purchase, members gave their membership number to the checkout operator, so that their putchase would count towards their dividend.

Leith Provident&8217;s main store was on Great Junction Street, between Taylor Gardens and King Street. The site had, in part, been the grounds of South Leith Poorhouse, and was vacated around 1908. The Society built a range of shops with flats above, the shops extending well back from Great Junction Street with their roofs forming an outdoor drying area for the flats. At the Taylor Gardens end, the Society occuppied the upper floors too, with a cafeteria overlooking the street and a clock tower on the corner.

The Society had numerous shops throughout Leith and a little beyond, most of these selling food – grocery branches, bakeries, fleshing depatments (butchers) and so on, with the Great Junction Street shop sellling clothing, shoes, furniture etc.. In later years electrical goods were also sold, first at Bangor Road and them in a purpose-built new building (Telectra House) on the corner of Great Junction Street and Cables Wynd.

In 1978 the Society merged with their Edinburgh equivalent, St. Cuthbert’s, which went on to become Scotmid, still in operation today.