company store
Workplace retail outlet
A company store is a retail shop operated by an employer, selling goods to workers—historically common in mining towns and factory communities where the company owned all local infrastructure.
Workers often received wages partly in scrip redeemable only at the company store, creating cycles of debt and dependency.
The phrase evokes exploitation: I owe my soul to the company store.
Modern usage extends to any captive retail situation where employees or members have limited purchasing alternatives.
Claim certificate for shares
- debt bondageCoerced labor repaying loans
- peonageDebt-based forced labor
- captive marketConsumers lacking purchasing alternatives
- overpricedCosting more than warranted
underpaid · wage slavery · indentured · servitude · usury · profiteering · coercion · predatory
Community near a mine
- scripClaim certificate for shares
- minerOne who excavates ore
- collieryCoal extraction site
- AppalachiaEastern U.S. mountain region
shaft · tipple · payroll · commissary · holler · boom town · lumber camp · extraction
Settlement built around industry
- textile millFacility producing woven goods
- dormitoryStudent living building
- paternalismControlling others for their good
- industrializationTransition to factory-based economy
labor union · strike · workforce · manufacturing · assembly line · Lowell · workhouse · tenement
scrip
Claim certificate for shares
- debt bondageCoerced labor repaying loans
- peonageDebt-based forced labor
- captive marketConsumers lacking purchasing alternatives
overpriced · underpaid · wage slavery · indentured · servitude · usury · profiteering · coercion · predatory · extortion
coal town
Community near a mine
Appalachia · shaft · tipple · payroll · commissary · holler · boom town · lumber camp · extraction · isolated
factory town
Settlement built around industry
- textile millFacility producing woven goods
- dormitoryStudent living building
- paternalismControlling others for their good
industrialization · labor union · strike · workforce · manufacturing · assembly line · Lowell · workhouse · tenement · barracks
- mining townsaloon, mine shaft, gold pan, prospector, miner
- mill townmill town, mill, mill workers, mill pond, mill race
- mill villageworker housing, mill house, cotton mill, textile mill, boarding house
- Mining Heritagecolliery, coal town, mining town, mining settlement, mining camp
- logging townslogging camp, sawmill, lumber mill, loggers, logging roads
- employee perksgym membership, free meals, parking space, mobile phone, laptop
company storefree market
Commerce without state intervention
open market · general store · mom-and-pop store · free enterprise · small business
company storefree market
Commerce without state intervention
cash economy · economic liberty · fair trade · worker cooperative · fair wages
store, company, companion, accompany, companions, accompanying, accompanied, companies, companionship