The Cope, or the Templecrone Agricultural Co-operative Society ( ga, Comharchumann Talmhaíochta agus Sóisialta Theampall Cróine), is a

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

chain indigenous to

The Rosses The Rosses (officially known by its Irish language name, ''Na Rosa''; in the genitive case ''Na Rosann'') is a geographical and social region in the west of County Donegal, Ireland, with a population of over 7,000 centred on the town of Dungloe, ...

area of

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Founded in 1906, it has a number of normal supermarkets as well as a full department store, a builders merchants and an agricultural division. The name comes from the inability of one of the founder shareholders to say ''Co-Op'' - as he could pronounce Cope, the name The Cope was adopted. For the same reason, some people use the term to refer to the group in the

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

named

The Co-operative Group Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses including food retail, wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance and legal services, and funeral care. The Co-op ...

. Outside of Donegal, the name is perhaps best known for being the semi-official nickname of a local politician

Pat "the Cope" Gallagher Pat "the Cope" Gallagher ( ir, Pádraig Ó Gallchóir; born 10 March 1948) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 2016 to 2020 and as a Minister of State from 1987 to 1994 and from 20 ...

, who is a former

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

. His family were connected to the foundation of the co-operative. The founder of the chain, Patrick Gallagher (grandfather of the above, and known as Paddy "the Cope"), featured on a 48c Irish stamp released on 16 January 2006, depicted in front of the group's first

Dungloe ''An Clochán Liath'', known in English as Dungloe or Dunglow ( ), is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is the main town in The Rosses and the largest in the Donegal ''Gaeltacht''. Dungloe developed as a town in the middle of the 18th century ...

store. The supermarket section of its flagship Dungloe department store was destroyed in a fire in April 2006, although a reduced supermarket service was resumed within two weeks from elsewhere on the site. Construction of a new supermarket began in January 2007 and has since been completed. Initially co-branded as a Vivo store, and latterly a Eurospar, it has since returned to only Cope branding. The Cope has branches in the town of

, as well as

Annagry ''Anagaire'' (anglicised as Annagry) is a village in The Rosses district of County Donegal, Ireland. , the population was 236. Name The Irish and official name for Annagry is ''Anagaire'', which in turn derives from ''Áth na gCoire'' meaning "fo ...

Falcarragh An Fál Carrach (anglicized as Falcarragh), sometimes called Na Crois Bhealaí ("the crossroads") is a small Gaeltacht town and townland in north-west County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The settlement is in the old parish of Cloughanee ...

and

Kincasslagh Cionn Caslach (anglicized as Kincasslagh) is a small Gaeltacht seaside village in the Rosses area of County Donegal, Ireland. Despite only having a population of just over 40 people, the village has attracted much international attention due to t ...

villages. They formerly had branches in

Burtonport or (English name: Burtonport) is a fishing village about northwest of Dungloe in The Rosses district of County Donegal, Ireland. The main employers in the village were the Burtonport Fishermen's Co-op and the ''Bord Iascaigh Mhara Bord ...

and Narin, but they have been closed; with the former branch in

Lettermacaward Leitir Mhic an Bhaird or Leitir Mhic a' Bhaird (anglicised as Lettermacaward) is a Gaeltacht village in the Rosses region of County Donegal, Ireland. The village, known colloquially as ''Leitir'' (pronounced ''letcher''), is between the larger ...

now operated privately. The Narin branch was re-opened on its original site for Summer 2019 only. The Dungloe store is a full service

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

, with the Falcarragh branch also carrying some homewares and hardware in addition to the food business. The Dungloe and Kincasslagh stores host the

An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

for their communities, while the separate Dumgloe hardware/agricultural store carries Topline Hardware franchise branding.

References

External links

The Cope official website
rte.ie Cooperatives in Ireland Cooperatives in the Republic of Ireland Retail companies established in 1906 The Rosses Supermarkets of the Republic of Ireland 1906 establishments in Ireland {{retail-company-stub