In the introduction, the Author presents a brief historical outline of the cooperative movement in Poland. The activity of Common Cooperative of Consumers „Społem” Wadowice, based on the chronicle of this organization, was presented with particular emphasis on its development in the first post-war years. The author characterized the contribution of cooperatives to the development of the city, the local service market and entrepreneurship. The whole ends with a summary in which he emphasizes that the transformations of the 1990s led to an almost complete collapse of this form of socio-economic activity.