During the second half of the 19th century, like many other industrial towns, a Cooperative Society was formed in Mexborough. This was modelled on the consumer cooperative set up by the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844. In 1861 nine working men met together at the home of James Simpson in Mexborough and decided to form the Mexborough Working Men's Industrial Society (later renamed as the Mexborough Cooperative Society). The aim of the Society was to supply (at first to the nine men themselves) the necessary things of life. Membership quickly grew and by the 1890s it stood at 1,200. In its heyday, there were ten shops which were to be found in every built up area of Mexborough. By 1903 land had been purchased in the middle of Mexborough on which to build a large and grand new central store, but then suddenly in 1904 the Mexborough Cooperative Society went into liquidation. Soon after they were taken over by the Barnsley British Co-operative Society.