NTUC FairPrice was first established on 22 July 1973 as NTUC Welcome Supermarket in Toa Payoh, to solve the rising oil and daily prices then due to inflation. Then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew opened the first supermarket at Block 192, Toa Payoh Lorong 4, and it was the first of its kind. Around the same time, other unions such as the Singapore Industrial Labour Organisation and Pioneer Industries Employees Union also set up co-operatives to run supermarkets. The two organisations later merged in the early 1980s to form the Singapore Employees Co-operative (SEC).