COOP Reopens Brattle St. Storefront With New Public Spaces, Live Music

The Harvard Cooperative Society, the MIT-Harvard bookstore and retail cooperative, reopened its Brattle Square location Tuesday with an all-day launch event featuring live DJs, giveaways, and free food.

The renovated store at 9 Brattle St. now includes an Apple technology center, expanded merchandise offerings, and redesigned public spaces, including a music lounge and flexible work areas.

Chief Executive Officer Jodi Goldstein said the overhaul reflects a return to the COOP’s founding mission, updated for a modern audience.

“The idea was to offer essential resources at affordable prices, and back in the 1800s it was coal and wood to heat the dorm rooms, and extended into textbooks and other essentials over the years,” she said.

“What we would like to do is restore the COOP to that original mission and purpose, to serve the campus community, and we’re looking to modernize it and bring it forward in relevant ways,” Goldstein added.

The redesign is part of what Goldstein described as a “multi-dimensional transformation” that goes beyond the physical store.

“The other thing that we’re doing is showcasing and featuring student products and ideas. So, we have collaborations with a number of different student and alumni businesses,” Goldstein said, adding that the new storefront will also host recurring live music and events.

Joseph Ntaimo, an MIT graduate student and DJ who performed at the reopening, said the changes make the space feel more student-centered.

“It looks like they’re trying to make the space a lot more of a place to hang out for both MIT and Harvard students, and so with that push, they’re doing bigger events,” Ntaimo said. “They’re actually exceptionally student focused.”

Goldstein, who became CEO in September 2024 after co-founding the Harvard Innovation Labs, said the transformation is also a response to changing consumer habits.

“Students can buy anything they want online and have it delivered to their dorm room overnight. We need to identify ways that we can be more meaningful and more relevant,” she said.

Goldstein said that means reimagining the COOP not just as a retail space, but as a hub for experience.

“We believe that by transforming our physical spaces, not merely as a retail store, but as a gathering place, and a place to host events and attend events and all of those experiences and programs and activities, we think will make it much more meaningful,” she said.

Goldstein said the shift will not change the role of J. August, the Harvard Square book and clothing store owned by the COOP since 2004. That store recently reopened after a two-month renovation.

“They’ve done their job well, because it’s really spruced up, much brighter, livelier. I like it,” said Raj D. Singh, a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School who attend the reopening.

The Harvard-MIT Cooperative Society is governed by a board that includes 11 students, about half its members. Goldstein said that student representation plays a key role in shaping the COOP’s direction.

“We’re hosting a whole series of events, and we’re trying to explore and test and learn by trying different formats to see what students are interested in,” Goldstein said. “We’re really excited to be doing that in collaboration with a lot of students and different student groups.”

—Staff writer Adam Han can be reached at [email protected].