A new headquarters

Zurich’s Limmatplatz has been home to Migros’ head office since 1931. Its buildings mirror the company’s development: from a start-up to a major retail chain, from a public limited company to a federation of cooperatives, and from a humble shop to a modern Migros Market.

When Migros AG moves into the distribution centre at Limmatplatz in Zurich in 1931, Gottlieb Duttweiler almost lovingly calls it his “distribution machine”. When the company is made a cooperative in 1941, the building complex is converted into the headquarters of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives. The workshops and boiler house of the former silk-dyeing factory give way to a new building with offices, a staff canteen and storerooms.
Cooperative members who visit the new premises are given a brochure explaining the building. Among other things, the brochure describes:
– Butter modelling plant: “Processing up to 3,000 blocks of butter per hour, each 200g in weight.”
– Bottling plant: “The goods come from the warehouse via a turning slide on to the transport rollers and from there, through the funnel on to the packing table.”
– Yoghurt: “19,000 jars per day.”
– Coffee: “The raw coffee is cleaned by machines on the top floor, is automatically weighed and flows from there into the various coffee silos.”
– Bottle washing plant: “A washing machine using hot water cleans up to 4,000 bottles or jars per hour (oil bottles: 2,000).”
– Migros train station: “In the special hall, which is 90 m long, 10 rail goods wagons can be unloaded at once.”
But this impressive range of machinery reaches its capacity during the 1950s. In 1965, Migros builds a much larger distribution centre in Zurich-Herdern. The old dye factory at Limmatplatz is demolished in 1966, and in its place the new headquarters of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives is built with a sales area and multi-storey car park.