"Governed under the Industrial and Provident Society rules, they opened their first retail store at 136 Queen Victoria Street (now part of the Faraday Building on the corner of Godliman Street) in the City of London in 1872, and then in 1877, they opened a second grand building at Strand designed by Lockwood and Mawson. A note, the picture below does not show the building's Strand frontage - this is what it looked like from the north east corner looking south towards Strand."
"A strikingly blue clock on a large building on Strand has long puzzled me - what is the Civil Service Supply Association, does it still exist, why is there a clock with their name on it there? And for an organisation that was, at one time, quite large, it's also proven an oddly difficult thing to pin down the details."
In 1864 clerks at the General Post Office pooled purchases to buy half a chest of tea, saving nearly 10% by buying in bulk. In 1865 forty post office workers formed the Post Office Supply Association, which four months later was renamed the Civil Service Supply Association and opened membership to all civil servants in central London. Members paid a joining fee for substantial bulk-buying savings. The society operated under Industrial and Provident Society rules and opened retail premises at 136 Queen Victoria Street in 1872 and a second grand Strand building in 1877 designed by Lockwood and Mawson. The Strand entrance was small and added only in 1925. Online sources claim closure in 1982 after a severe fire, but that account appears questionable given typical insurance and business practices.
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