by Laurent GUERBY Sat Feb 24th, 2007 at 09:25:06 AM EST

New Economist says big day for co-op fans:

For Chris Dillow and other advocates of employee ownership, the last few days have been heady indeed. On Saturday it was revealed that the boards of the UK's two biggest co-operatives have agreed the terms of a merger that would form the world's largest consumer co-operative group, with a combined workforce of more than 87,000 staff and more than 4,500 sites. On Sunday The Observer reported that John Lewis plans massive expansion:

John Lewis Partnership is embarking on a highly aggressive expansion strategy which will see the employee-owned business create 35,000 new jobs and double its turnover to £12bn. ...A 10-year business plan, signed off by the partnership board in recent days, will see the retail concern boost its total workforce to 100,000 by 2017. The plan envisages John Lewis significantly increasing its 26 department stores and 184 Waitrose supermarkets.

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