Some Criticize Coope's Selection

"No department is operating at a loss," Murphy says. "All the departments, including textbooks, contribute to overhead."

The textbook Introduction to Organic Chemistry, 4th ed., by Streitwiser, Heathcock and Kasower, sells for $86.50 at the Coop. At the Boston University (B.U.) bookstore, it sell for a significantly lower $77.33, although it is not normally in stock. At the Yale Co-op, it sells for $77.00.

Another textbooks, the second edition of General Physics by Sternheim and Kane, sells for $80.75 at the Coop and $80.00 at the B.U. bookstore.

Murphy says selling textbooks is a "deceptively" expensive production.

"There is a lot of overhead involved in that operation--it is very deceptive." Murphy says.

"It would be a much more effective operation if [the College] went to preregistration," he adds.

Many professors also do not return their book requests on time, Murphy says.

One former Coop director says the Coop is not in the textbook business for money, but because the Coop is a University store, it must sell texts.

"As much as we complain about the cost of textbooks, the textbook business is not terribly profitable," says Doug Ulene, a Coop director in 1988-89 and a 1989 Harvard Law School graduate.

Other departments vary in their competitiveness, according to the Crimson price comparison.

"We're always perceived as being overpriced in insignia, [but] we give 15 percent off on a daily basis to students and faculty [who are members]," Murphy says.

When compared with J. August, a store on Mass. Ave which sells Harvard-geared products, the Coop's prices were much better on a sweatshirt while slightly higher on a T-shirt.

But even Murphy may be surprised by some of his departments low prices.

"In housewares, in health and beauty aids, in CVS-type goods, we're not competitive," Murphy says.

Murphy was right about the housewares, but in CVS-type goods, the Coop came out nearly identical or better.

Although the Coop is competitive in music prices--it will match any competitor's price on a CD or tape and has a 15 percent members' discount--it cannot touch the kind of selection at neighboring Tower Records of HMV. This selection problem is not limited to the music department.

"The Coop can compete with them price-wise, but they can't compete with them selection-wise," Dickson says.

The Bottom Line

Members of the board say the Coop must make changes soon in order to pull out of the red.

"Last year was the first year that I can ever remember that the Coop had a loss," says Dickson, who has been on the Board of Directors since the early 1980s. "You can't operate a business at a loss, particularly when you return most of the [money] that exceed[s] your expenses in a year to the members of the Coop."

When the Coop makes no profit, the members get no rebate. Last fall was the first time in institutional memory when members did not receive a rebate. In 1989, the rebate was 10 percent; in 1993, it was one percent.

"Basically, the Coop is not in the best shape right now, and there has been a lot of talk on how to refocus," says Daniel N. Saul '95, an outgoing member of the Board of Directors and a Crimson editor.

Options for that "refocusing" include cutting or adding departments, downsizing departments or the entire store and leasing out parts of the store to different businesses, members of the Board of Directors say.

Moel says he wants to look into a front-end refund instead of a back-end rebate.

But Murphy says that option has been discussed before, and dismissed.

"The basis of the Coop is that you get it at the end; you bear the risk," Murphy says. "We try to give a lot of good deals during the year in addition to the rebate."

Moel also says he would like the Board to decide "how much of the Coop should be dedicated to members and how much to non-members."

These changes have also been discussed before.

One student member of the board in 1987-88 said it had discussed tailoring the women's clothing departments to more modern tastes.

"The [women's] clothing line was pretty much the same from the 1950s," says Tamara Woolfork '88.

"There was discussion about appealing more to the student body."

Woolfork, who visited the Coop about two years ago, said not much had changed.

"Last time I was there, [women's clothing] looked pretty much the same." woolfork says.

Dickson says attempts to meet customers' tastes, such as changing women's clothing, have been tried before.

"I think you can almost predict you would want textbooks that are cheaper, stationery that is cheaper, a different selection of clothing, and all that has been done over and over again," Dickson says.

But Dickson says the Coop will have to make major changes to stay viable.

"I think that the Coop will change," Dickson says. "As you know, it's basically a college bookstore and a department store. One real question is whether in fact a sort of small to midsized department store has a future in the retail world."

A Different Era?

Some parts of the Coop may be absolete, Dickson says.

Forty years ago, male students were required to wear a coat and tie to meals.

Now, "unless they're used to buying suits at the Coop, and they'll only buy suits at the Coop or nowhere else, [they] don't...go to Harvard Square to buy a suit unless [they] don't have a choice," Dickson says.

Opinions about the Coop's future fall into two camps, Moel says.

"There's one camp that says the Coop has lost its brand name," Moel says. "With Harvard Square being what it is, people don't think of the Coop as part of the shopping experience."

The other side focuses less on image and more on dollars, Moel says.

"I'm more the pragmatic type," Moel says. "If you give the students a financial incentive to shop there, they will. But I don't know what form that would take or how that's possible."

Murphy says he would like to see at least a five percent rebate in the next few years.

"My gut tells me for it to be meaningful to our members, I think it has to be at least five percent," Murphy says.

The way that rebate will increase, Koh says, is through taking a close look at what departments can be cut.

"One word that can describe the general direction of the Coop over the next couple of years would probably be downsizing," Koh says.

In the long term, Murphy says his goal is to improve student and alumni relations with the Coop.

"I would want warmer feelings for the Coop, not a love-hate relationship," Murphy says. "Students of today are my alumni of tomorrow. I want them to have some association with the Coop."