Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society

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Coordinates: 42°22′25″N 71°07′11″W / 42.3737°N 71.1196°W / 42.3737; -71.1196
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Perry, Shaw & Hepburn in the Colonial Revival style
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First floor of the interior (2025)

The Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society (or The Coop, pronounced as a single syllable

Harvard subway station
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The Coop was founded as the Harvard Cooperative in 1882 to supply books,

school supplies, and wood and coal for winter heating.[1] MIT, following its move from Boston to Cambridge in 1916, invited the Coop to open a branch of the store at the Institute, where it has been present ever since.[1] Today, the store is one of the largest college campus bookstores.[1]

Only students,

faculty, alumni and employees of MIT, Harvard, and the personnel of the hospitals affiliated with the Harvard Medical School are eligible to join.[3] Membership cost $1 annually in 1882, and this fee has not been increased.[1] Members may also purchase a Coop Diary, a black combination pocket diary, academic year calendar, and address book. The Coop traditionally had disbursed its annual profits as a rebate to members in October of each year. As of July 1, 2014, the rebate program has been replaced with an automatic additional discount of 10% at the registers, for Coop members in good standing.[4]

The Coop stores are managed by

ex officio.[5]

In 2014, the MIT branch announced that it was the first campus bookstore in the U.S. to accept bitcoin payments.[6]

The MIT branch had, for decades, operated a department store and general bookstore at 325 Main Street as Kendall Square's largest retailer. In February 2019, this store moved to smaller temporary home at 80 Broadway, to allow for demolition of the building housing its former location. A new, taller sixteen-story building has been constructed on the site, and the Coop is expected[needs update] to move into a space larger than its temporary quarters, but possibly smaller than its previous space at that location.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "About Us". TheCoop: the Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society Store. The Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  2. ^ "Store Locations - The Coop". Store.thecoop.com. Harvard Cooperative Society. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  3. ^ "Membership". TheCoop: the Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society Store. The Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  4. ^ "Patronage Rebate". TheCoop: the Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society Store. The Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  5. ^ "Student Elections". TheCoop: the Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society Store. The Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  6. ^ Borchers, Callum (September 4, 2014). "MIT Coop to accept bitcoin payments". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  7. ^ Hennacy, Kaitlyn (February 14, 2019). "MIT COOP building to be demolished, replaced". The Tech. Retrieved March 23, 2020.

42°22′25″N 71°07′11″W / 42.3737°N 71.1196°W / 42.3737; -71.1196

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