Q.A retail store owned and run by consumers themselves for their own mutual benefit is called a:
(A) Chain store
(B) Mail-order business
(C) Consumer co-operative store
(D) Specialty store

Some large-scale retail formats are organised not for an outside owner's profit but for the benefit of the very consumers who buy from them, run on co-operative lines.

(A) A chain store is a set of standardised outlets owned and centrally controlled by a single trading firm, not by the consumers who shop there — incorrect. (B) A mail-order business sells through a catalogue with delivery by post or courier and is run by an independent seller, not by consumers collectively — incorrect. (C) A consumer co-operative store is specifically owned and run by the consumers themselves, organised on co-operative principles, for their own mutual benefit rather than an outside owner's profit — this matches the question exactly, so it is correct. (D) A specialty store is a small fixed-shop retailer dealing in a narrow product line, run by an individual trader, not by a body of consumers — incorrect. Only (C) fits the description of consumer ownership and control.

Students sometimes confuse a consumer co-operative store with a chain store because both can have multiple branches; the real distinction is ownership — a co-operative is owned by its consumer-members, a chain store by a single trading firm.