William Fisher worked at Ulverston Co-operative Society, Barrow Co-operative Society and the Cumbrian Co-operative Society between the late 1940s up until 1993 when he retired. During his time working for these societies, Fisher attended the Co-operative College and also spent time completing a correspondence course as he made his way through shop management and then departmental management. He broke the mould in the Barrow Society which tended to move senior shop assistants to the post of assistant manager and was consequently the first young man to be made a full shop manager. This didn't go down too well as he was also an Ulverston man not a Barrow man. He rose to become the grocery departmental manager in Barrow Co-operative Society before it merged with the cumbrian Society in 1984 when he became the area manager for South Cumbria.
The merger took place not long after Barrow Society was offered a prime location on a brand new retail park, the first one to be built in Barrow. William Fisher had already created the first Barrow Society superstore running from the ground floor of the warehouse called Savextra. It was only designed to operate for three years or so but went on to become the busiest shop in town for a total of fifteen years. Despite this success, it was seen as too much of a risk to take the site on the reatil park and the society walked away.
William Fisher met his wife whilst working at Barrow Co-operative Society. She had a long career working in various Co-ops after starting as a back lass chopping sugar in the late 1940s but never rising above the shop assistant level.
Source: notes of Mr Derek Fisher, son of William Fisher (2011).
From the guide to the Papers of William Fisher (Barrow and Dalton co-operative societies), 1873-1961, (National Co-operative Archive)
