# Coop Supermarket - Colchester - Feb 2017



## Mmps6 (Mar 8, 2017)

Like many of us i have a bucket list, some normal, some unrealistic and some really strange.
One of my unrealistic ones is to spend a night in a supermarket. The idea of raiding the cheese fridge and having trolley races really does it for me. Although not all the criteria was meet, im ticking it off. i got my trolley race, and i got to get in one of those huge freezers. 

A trip out with the guys for a catch up and a McDonald's when the conversation soon turned to "anything round here to show us" Not wanting to give them anything too challenging we headed to Fisons for a little look around. After a pair of trousers got caught on barbed wire, someone stood on a nail, and another fell over, we decided to leave before inevitably someone accidentally walked out the side of a 3 story building.

On the way back, the Coop was mentioned, its one of two large Coop supermarket's in Colchester, this being the much older and less used of the two. We parked up and had walk about. Alarmed, locked, defeated. Or so it seemed, while the others had jumped the fence on the way back to the car, something caught my eye, Bingo. We huddle by the entrance looking at the array of flashing lights on the walls and the sensors. " if the alarm is silent we would have well and truly tripped it by now" 

We left it, went for a little re fuel and toilet brake at the nearest non derp'd supermarket, and came back to see if anyone had shown up. Nothing. 

History 

Could not find an awful lot of history on the site which bothers me greatly  what i did find is the following.

Closed in September 2016 this site was seen to not be viable anymore, as major overhaul and update was needed throughout the store. Quoting directly from the Coop website "Our supermarket on Abbots Road requires major refurbishment. We have investigated all the options but unfortunately the level of investment required means that none are viable for this location, in the increasingly competitive retail offering within Colchester.”

Its planned to be demolished this year. Reports suggest there shall be a large German bootsale/junk shop opening up sometime in 2018, you might know it as Lidl. 

The Explore


The atmosphere in this one was very strange, i only have a few years exploring under my belt and have never come across a closed down supermarket, specially in such a usable state. However it straight away took me on a trip down memory lane, this was once my local supermarket. It was very easy to see why it wasn't viable to refurb, Everything from the floors to signs and freezers all look dated despite being very clean and in good conditon.


















































































Thanks for looking


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## Gromr (Mar 8, 2017)

Don't see many supermarkets, this is cool! Reminds me a lot of that supermarket in fallout 3


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## krela (Mar 8, 2017)

It really closed 6 months ago? Wow it looks like it's stuck in an 80s timewarp.


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## Mmps6 (Mar 8, 2017)

i typed almost those exact words in the report then decided i was rambling on to much


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## smiler (Mar 8, 2017)

They certainly cleared the place out before leaving, nicely photographed, Thanks


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## rockfordstone (Mar 8, 2017)

krela said:


> It really closed 6 months ago? Wow it looks like it's stuck in an 80s timewarp.



i was going to say the same, that is some really old style supermarket branding. interesting tho, ive only seen them empty when i've been handing them to the client


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## iffwithab (Apr 11, 2017)

This brings back memories of my childhood and the Co op we had in Amesbury that closed in oooh... 2006? Even then it felt dated!


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## DirtyJigsaw (Apr 13, 2017)

That's pretty cool, I like that


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## prettyvacant71 (Apr 13, 2017)

oh this is a funny report...i use to like gettin off my trolley more than racing them, but i think i wud be safer racer them nowdays lol

I too like odd things like this

Have you thought about spending the night in IKEA nice proper beds, M&S does good nosh, apparently its the thing to do and more comy than a car and cheaper than a b&b


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## andylen (Apr 14, 2017)

Nice explore guys, Well done, cracking set there.


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## Potter (Apr 17, 2017)

Superb. Demolishing it seems such a waste when Lidl could just reuse it after stripping it out.


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## Mmps6 (Apr 18, 2017)

Ikea is the dream, the Nurburgring of the trolley racing world, and all the swedish meat balls you can eat


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## Randybreen91 (May 1, 2017)

Looks so strange now! 
And why is there always an abandoned wheelchair?


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## the_delta_force (Jun 3, 2017)

All it needs is Dale Winton and you'll have Supermarket Sweep!


krela said:


> It really closed 6 months ago? Wow it looks like it's stuck in an 80s timewarp.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jun 3, 2017)

Randybreen91 said:


> And why is there always an abandoned wheelchair? &#55357;&#56838;



in the equipment list of all large and major supermarkets one always finds a wheel chair - easiest way of getting a sick or faint customer to the fresh air or the first aid room.


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