The drive to unify the co-op movement under a single brand received a boost this week when two more societies agreed to adopt 'The Co-operative' fascia.

The Lothian Borders & Angus and Chelmsford Star co-ops will between them rebrand more than 60 stores by the end of this year. The fascia was first launched by the UK's largest co-op society, the Co-operative Group, in 2005 in a bid to simplify the movement's brand positioning.

Chelmsford Star was one of the first societies to pilot the new fascia, at its store in Kings Road, Chelmsford, where sales have risen 11% following the refit.

As a result, the society would roll out the branding across its whole estate, said Chelmsford Star CEO Tony Gudgeon.

"We have already refitted our stores at Writtle and Hullbridge and we are currently working on our stores at East Tilbury and Braintree," he added.

The news was welcomed by the Co-operative Group, which is in the process of updating 700 food stores with the new fascia, a job that will be complete by the end of 2008.

"The inconsistency of our brand has been a major failing for far too long," said CEO Peter Marks. "This modernisation programme will address that."

The attempt to persuade the UK's 30-plus co-op societies to adopt the single fascia has had mixed results.

It has been adopted by United Co-operatives, which merged with the Co-operative Group in July last year, and Midcounties Co-op.

But East of England and Scotmid have turned their back on the new look in favour of their own fascias.

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