Hyresgästernas möbelaffär: folkbildande försäljning mellan konsumentkooperativ logik och marknadslogik 1927–1943.

The Hyresgästernas Möbelaffär furniture shop: Educational retail between consumer co-operative logic and market logic, 1927–1943.

The article deals with Hyresgästernas Möbelaffär, a consumer co-operative furniture shop. It was run by Hyresgästföreningen, a Stockholm tenants' union, between 1927 and 1943, when the shop was acquired by Kooperativa Förbundet (KF), a federation of consumer co-operatives. The shop, along with the tenants’ union, shared close links with HSB, a co-operative housing association, often appearing at its exhibitions. The article argues that the shop was run according to a system of consumer co-operative standards, or ideology, which the article terms consumer co-operative logic. This logic sometimes incorporated seemingly irreconcilable notions: ideals of local democracy and autonomy on the one hand; concepts of mass production and popular education on the other. The latter aimed to influence consumption patterns to shape a model domestic culture. Coexisting at the same time was market logic, given that the shop aimed to stimulate consumption and, just like any other business, wanted to survive and perform financially. The article investigates how consumer co-operative logic and market logic coexisted and conflicted in the early days of the Swedish housing co-operative movement, and how this helped to shape an influential co-operative consumption ideal with strong ties to the home. Questions include, how did Hyresgästernas Möbelaffär combine consumer co-operative logic and market logic? How was this expressed in the kind of domestic consumption it espoused? How did this change over time? The article describes how the shop began as a business based in part on consumer co-operative principles, at the same time as it lacked local autonomy and democracy. Instead, the shop was directly controlled by Hyresgästföreningen in Stockholm. The shop came to play a key role at HSB exhibitions, and in promoting the tenants’ movement, yet it increasingly acquired an exclusive reputation, which led to criticism. The shop found difficultly in reconciling consumer co-operative logic, which prized rational consumption and restraint, with market logic, an increasingly important prerequisite for staying in business. Here KF was very successful, and in 1943 the federation absorbed the shop, which became Möbelkonsum. This marks the end of the article’s timeframe, although it does discuss to what extent the consumer cooperative business became a model for later furniture companies. The article demonstrates the difficulties in reconciling market logic with consumer co-operative logic, yet it does show how Hyresgästernas Möbelaffär created an interesting synthesis, and how the influence of social movements on Swedish domestic consumption and culture should be investigated further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]