Konsum (East Germany)

Konsum () is a cooperative retail chain founded in 1945 by the Soviet Military Administration in the Soviet Occupation ZoneFederal Constitutional Court; Order of 26 October 2004. https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/EN/2004/10/rs20041026_2bvr095500en.html, which later became East Germany. It consisted of grocery stores, retail markets, industrial plants, and restaurants, and was a direct competitor to the Handelsorganisation.Simone Tippach-Schneider: Das große Lexikon der DDR-Werbung, Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag GmbH, Berlin 2004.Burchard Bösche, Jan-Frederik Korf: Chronik der deutschen Konsumgenossenschaften. 150 Jahre Konsumgenossenschaften in Deutschland. 100 Jahre Zentralverband deutscher Konsumgenossenschaften e. V. Hamburg 2003.

After German reunification in 1990, Konsum was not dissolved, as it was not a state-owned enterprise like Handelsorganisation. Today, it exists in limited capacity, mostly as a real estate management cooperative.

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