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Anyone know anything about the Yale Co-op?

15K views 22 replies 14 participants last post by  fred johnson 
#1 ·
I live in New Haven and I often run across suits/sport coats with a label that says "Yale Co-op Since 1885". I haven't seen an actual store with this name in town, though. Did it go out of business? Or am I misinterpreting what I'm seeing. Based on the quality of the suits, I'd guess it was a middle range men's store.

Anyone know anything?
 
#3 ·
Filed for bankruptcy in the late 1990s, and went under around 2000. Sometimes NWT Yale school ties pop up on e-bay, labelled as "for the Yale Co-op by Brooks Brothers." I don't know very much about Yale but I have to imagine that it's Cooperative, like the Harvard Coop, used to sell the whole range of goods for Ivy students, including suits, shirts, and ties.

Article:

https://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxx/2000.09.08/news/p4co-op.html
 
#4 ·
Filed for bankruptcy in the late 1990s, and went under around 2000. Sometimes NWT Yale school ties pop up on e-bay, labelled as "for the Yale Co-op by Brooks Brothers." I don't know very much about Yale but I have to imagine that it's Cooperative, like the Harvard Coop, used to sell the whole range of goods for Ivy students, including suits, shirts, and ties.

Article:

https://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxx/2000.09.08/news/p4co-op.html
Very interesting.

Thanks a lot!
 
#8 ·
Another Victory for the Forces of Evil...

or at least Corporatism.

The Co-op was killed by the University "Management", blinded with greed, and dazzled by the Devil -- in the form of Barnes & Noble. They were evicted from their Saarinen-designed specially-built space and forced out into the commercial real estate market.
 
#9 ·
Here's a pretty good article addressing the "decline of the Yale tradition," from the Co-op to J. Press to Mory's.
 
#12 · (Edited)
The coop was a student's cooperative that paid out excess profits every year to it's members, much like REI. It had the student bookstore as well as a men's and women's clothing department, gifts stationary. Back in the 80's, the clothing was not on a par with Press or even Brooks but was certainly far better for logo merchandise and every day clothing than what is available today (on a par with current Brooks Brothers). BAck then, most students found it a little old fogey (ie. trad) and would buy formal clothes from Press (particularly if your parents set you up with an account) or jeans and t-shirts from the more down-scale shops on Chapel Street and shoes and jackets from L.L. Bean.

It was in a beautiful, light filled saarinen design backing on to the two Saarinen designed colleges (that none of us appreciated at the time). The staff in the men's department were all gracious older men, and like the gentlemen at the White Owl Pipe Shop (if I'm recalling the name) represented an earlier age at Yale when undergraduate men were still expected to wear jacket and tie to dinner, smoke Cuban cigars and English pipes and carry their cigarettes in silver cases. Many of the staff were laid off as the Coop suffered through these changes and, as mentioned above, the university sold the book franchise and the space out to Barnes and Noble and ended a long and glorious tradition. It is certainly not the same today.
 
#13 ·
The coop was a student's cooperative that paid out excess profits every year to it's members, much like REI. It had the student bookstore as well as a men's and women's clothing department, gifts stationary. Back in the 80's, the clothing was not on a par with Press or even Brooks but was certainly far better for logo merchandise and every day clothing than what is available today (on a par with current Brooks Brothers). BAck then, most students found it a little old fogey (ie. trad) and would buy formal clothes from Press (particularly if your parents set you up with an account) or jeans and t-shirts from the more down-scale shops on Chapel Street and shoes and jackets from L.L. Bean.

It was in a beautiful, light filled saarinen design backing on to the two Saarinen designed colleges (that none of us appreciated at the time). The staff in the men's department were all gracious older men, and like the gentlemen at the White Owl Pipe Shop (if I'm recalling the name) represented an earlier age at Yale when undergraduate men were still expected to wear jacket and tie to dinner, smoke Cuban cigars and English pipes and carry their cigarettes in silver cases. Many of the staff were laid off as the Coop suffered through these changes and, as mentioned above, the university sold the book franchise and the space out to Barnes and Noble and ended a long and glorious tradition. It is certainly not the same today.
Your thinking of the Owl Shop. Here is a catalog from 1962

The place is a cigar bar now https://owlshopcigars.com/history.htm

I believe there was a bit of a controversy when they sold a collection of Yale class pipes. Can not remember the source of that info.

Here is a catalog from the other school
 
#17 ·
Co-op, Press, Saarinen, Mory's and more...

Yale Co-op -- hyphenated UNLIKE the Coop in Cambridge -- had nice Shetland sweaters in a rainbow of colors, though not dazzling enough to suit my taste. I had a stack for everyday wear and kept the Shaggy Dogs for dress-up... Press sweaters were in numbered sizes and made by Drumohr in super-saturated jewel-tones.

Many APPRECIATED Morse & Stiles, but failed to LOVE. There were problems... and the dining halls had atrocious acoutics, though G&S Operettas still were routinely performed. Think they're even LESS appreciated now, given how mucked-up the recent renovations have been... everything GOOD about the design has been destroyed. And Saarinen gave something much better than the horrors that were proposed for the Whitney/Grove site. Thank God they never saw the light of day! But, then, I look forward to the new Stern designs.

Mory's updates have appeared in the Daily News... should reopen in Fall with Old Favorites and trendy new stuff. We'll see. And will the drinking age ever be dropped again?
 
#18 ·
Yes, absolutely hyphenated. Pardon the typo please. One other thing that I may be misremembering is that the Yale Co-op gave it's members limited charge privileges, which was a big deal in those days. Credit cards were sometimes given to students by their parent for emergencies but it was not common and the credit card companies did not appear on campus offering students credit until the mid-80's as I recall.
 
#20 ·
Co-op Charge Account and Mory's Expansion Update

Yale Co-op gave all students credit when credit actually meant something...could charge all books, sweaters, and everything else sold there. Press also had personal charge accounts though those were sent directly to parents.

Mory's Expansion/Renovation Plans Approved -- Fundraising Continues. Online update: read all about it at yaledailynews.com.
 
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