Free Treasure Hunt in Quartier Coop, Strasbourg

Explore Quartier Coop with a free treasure hunt in Strasbourg — a 50-minute walk through one of France's most unusual neighbourhoods, built by workers, for workers, and still alive today.

In 1902, 125 steelworkers pooled their savings to open a food shop at fair prices. Over the following decades, they built an entire industrial quarter along the Rhine: a bakery, wine cellars, pasta factories, a lemonade plant, and a fleet of trucks to deliver it all across Alsace. Coop d'Alsace became one of the region's largest employers — and in 1961, it opened one of France's first self-service supermarkets. When large retail chains arrived with resources the cooperative could not match, Coop faced a choice: attract outside investment and become an ordinary business, or stay true to its founding values and close. It closed in 2015, the last consumer cooperative in France.

Today, the same brick warehouses house artists' studios, a conservation centre for 400,000 museum objects, a school where children learn about equality, and loft apartments built collectively by their residents. The quest traces this history building by building — with a question at every stop, all answers visible from the street.

How long does it take? Around 50 minutes, 8 stops, just over 1 kilometre.

From what age? From age 9. No specialist knowledge needed.

Do I need to book? No. Download the app and start whenever you're ready. The quest is free.

Download the app to start this quest for free.