The shop in Dagenham Road was listed among almost 100 other Co-op stores by the UK competition watchdog for breaching a competition rule.
Under the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010, supermarkets are limited from preventing nearby land being used by rival retailers.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says that this ensures that shoppers have more choice so can benefit from a wider range of groceries and access to cheaper prices.
According to the watchdog, there was a restrictive covenant in place preventing supermarkets from opening a branch on land near the Co-op’s Dagenham Road store.
Co-op has already addressed 104 of the agreements that breached the 2010 order, and has agreed to resolve the remaining three.
The chain did not confirm if any of these unresolved agreements relate to the Dagenham Road supermarket when asked by this paper.
Daniel Turnbull, senior director of markets at the CMA, said: “Restrictive agreements by our leading retailers affect competition between supermarkets and impact shoppers trying to get the best deals.
“We know that Co-op has made a considerable effort to amend all their unlawful agreements, given this order has been in place since 2010.
“Co-op and the other designated retailers must make sure they do the right thing by their customers in the future.”
Co-op owns almost 2,400 stores across the UK and holds a 5.2 per cent market share in the UK’s £190.9 billion supermarket industry.
The chain has said that the number of breaches amounted to “less than 2 per cent of transactions” across its property portfolio, which includes its supermarkets and funeral directors.
A spokesperson added: “As a business that is committed to operating fairly, we recognise this is extremely disappointing.
“This is a matter we take very seriously, and we have taken all necessary action to ensure this issue is resolved and does not happen again.”
Many other UK supermarkets have been found in breach of the same order in recent years, although not to the same extent as Co-op.
Morrisons has had 55 breaches, Tesco had 23, Sainsbury’s had 18, Asda had 14, Marks and Spencer had 10, and Waitrose had seven.
