The Harvard Cooperative Society, also known as the Coop, is a student-run retail business that has been serving the Harvard University community since 1882. The Coop is owned and governed by its members, who are mostly students, faculty, and staff at Harvard. It operates a number of retail stores that sell a wide range of products, including textbooks, school supplies, clothing, gifts, and other items.
The Coop is more than just a retail store; it is an integral part of the Harvard community. It serves as a gathering place for students, faculty, and staff, and it hosts a variety of events and programs throughout the year. Many students rely on the Coop for their textbooks and other academic materials, and it is a popular destination for shopping and socializing.
The Coop is also a leader in sustainability and social responsibility. It has implemented a number of initiatives to reduce its environmental impact, including recycling programs, energy-efficient lighting, and the use of eco-friendly products. The Coop also supports a number of charitable causes, including literacy programs and disaster relief efforts.
The Coop is a unique and valuable asset to the Harvard community. It provides a range of products and services to meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff, and it is a place where people can come together to learn, shop, and socialize. The Coop's commitment to sustainability and social responsibility makes it an even more valuable resource, as it helps to create a more sustainable and compassionate community.
Harvard Cooperative Society, 1996
The building itself is beautiful and evokes images of generations of students, faculty, scholars and readers browsing the shelves and sitting amid the collections with a good book in hand. Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University. Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University. Our operations should be profitable, enabling us to share a portion of those profits with our members in the form of a 10% member discount, and to support a capital budget which will ensure our viability. The book collection covers all fields - fiction, text books, travel, children's literature. . It also sells Harvard logo clothing, school supplies, gifts, etc.
Harvard Cooperative Society (The Coop)
In 1906, the Coop purchased a building and relocated to the site of the current main Harvard Square store. By 1900 membership and sales had increased enough that the Coop moved to a larger space and increased its merchandise offerings to include men's furnishings, shoes, tailoring and a medical bookstore. . Though the historical strengths of the collections have been in the field of Christianity, other religious traditions are increasingly reflected, in step with Harvard Divinity School's evolving focus on global religious studies. The Coop, as a cooperative, is owned by its members but open to all.
Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society
In 2014, in response to member feedback, the traditional member rebate on purchases was converted to an up-front member discount of 10% on member purchases. In 1903 the members decided to reorganize into a more corporate form where the ownership was to be vested in a group of stable stockholders who would act as trustees for the members. On March 20, 1882, the Coop opened for business in a student's dorm room in Harvard Yard. I don't think you'll find a better or cheaper lobster roll anywhere else in Boston and certainly not Cambridge. Known as Andover-Harvard Theological Library since 1911, it was renamed the Harvard Divinity School Library in 2021.
