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Volume 4, Number 2 - Summer 2003

A Page from the Past

From pencils and paper to cyberspace

The UConn bookstore has changed with the times.

With the move to its newest location last fall, the UConn Co-op is carrying on a tradition of service to students that began over 100 years ago.

The bookstore in the early 1950s.
In the post-World War II period, the UConn bookstore was located in a former women's gymnasium, in what is now the Publications Building at the corner of Storrs Road and Dog Lane.
The earliest students of Storrs Agricultural School bought their books, pencils and paper directly from faculty members who ordered the materials and sold them at cost. The first bookstore opened in 1900 in the Old Main Building, which also housed classrooms, laboratories, administrative offices, faculty apartments, a natural history museum, and the library.

The early bookstore was operated by the library, where librarian Edwina Whitney sold textbooks, stationery and school supplies. Later it moved to a small room next to the library and in 1920 relocated to the basement of Old Main, when a soda fountain was installed.

The college catalogue described the store as "a cooperative student store," saying profits from sales were devoted "to defraying expenses for coaching and training student athletic teams." By 1929 the store moved, soda fountain and all, to the replacement for Old Main, new Beach Hall.

Soon after, in 1933, a committee appointed by President Albert N. Jorgensen reviewed bookstore operations and recommended that a permanent manager be hired, that the store operate as a non-profit organization, and that no rent or utilities be charged by the college.

In 1947, the bookstore moved out of Beach Hall into a building at the corner of Storrs Road and Dog Lane. As the campus expanded to match the growing student population, the fountain and snack bar were eliminated. When the Student Union expanded in the early 1960s, the bookstore moved into the basement there and was known as the Commons until the 1990s.

The University-run bookstore came to an end in the 1970s when a private company took over operations briefly. The UConn Co-op was established in 1975 under a governing board of elected students, faculty and staff. In its formative years, the Co-op ran business operations out of various campus locations. In November 1977, the Co-op opened its doors in the building near Hawley Armory that would be its home for 25 years.

The newest Co-op opened last November, constructed through the UCONN 2000 building program, at the intersection of Hillside and Stadium Roads. An additional 20,000 square feet of retail space provides for a cyber café, complete with outdoor seating, greater Husky merchandise selections, and

on-site storage. The store includes its computer repair operations and a branch of People's Bank. It also has moved online with the "e-Co-op." With a membership of 25,000, the UConn Co-op is the largest collegiate book-store in Connecticut and one of the top bookstores in the nation.

-- Mark J. Roy '74 (CLAS)



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