A Fresh Look For Coop Bookstore

To escape the hustle and bustle at the corner of Mass. Ave. and JFK St., simply walk through the polished, double wooden doors at the new Harvard Coop Bookstore.

For the student seeking a place for quiet, intellectual conversation or for the Cambridge resident looking for a travel guide, the revamped Harvard bookstore wants your attention--but in a subtle way.

The first impression that strikes a customer strolling through the door is the vast amount of space inside the building. The main floor's ceiling height is inhibited only by the top of the third floor, while the second floor is just a glorified walkway along the store's walls.

Eight white Roman pillars anchor the building, while wood-paneling of a mahogany tone outlines the horseshoe shape of the interior.

"We wanted to get the collegiate library feel. Harvard has some beautiful libraries and we wanted to catch that essence," says General Manager John P. Donaldson.

Past the double-door main entrance stands a four-shelf display of books written by Harvard affiliates and books published by the Harvard University Press. Other displays on the main floor include general interest items such as calendars, coffee-table books and works on the New York Times bestseller lists.

On the second floor, a narrow path wraps around walls lined with shelves of fiction and literature. Cream banners with holiday decorations drape over wooden railings.

The banners partially hide small tables-for-two scattered between bookshelves. They offer a secluded place for perusers to flip through books, provided the soft classical background music isn't too much of a distraction.

A trip up to the third floor necessitates a walk past the enticing smells of the Coop Cafe--scents that waft to a visitor's nose. The cafe is strategically located; the path up to the third floor requires a casual browser to saunter past the cold sandwiches, hot tea and fresh coffee of the cafe.

"In The Square there are great bookstores and great coffee places. We bring the two together," Donaldson says.

The eatery offers snacks from bagels to Godiva chocolates and drinks from Nantucket Nectars to specialty blends from the Republic of Tea. (The discriminating tea connoisseur can choose from the exotic Dragon Well, advertised as ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu's Tea, to the more mundane Earl Grey.) For $1.25, a weary English concentrator can grab a regular cup of coffee to perk up before glancing through Cliffs Notes to Jane Austen's Emma, which can be found on the third floor.

There, texts and trade books on topics ranging from management and finance to chemistry and cell biology can be found.

Bookstores are one of the few places where an entire spectrum of ideas and values come together.

True to form, the Coop Bookstore has a shelf with both William J. Bennett's The Book of Virtues and one bearing the title, The Best American Erotica.