The Harvard Cooperative Society, better known as The Coop, will open a new store at MIT next year, 50 percent larger than its current home down the river, said Coop president James A. Argeros last week.

The Coop, that huge emporium where eager students throng each semester to stock up on textbooks and toothpaste, has purchased retail space in Kendall Square for the construction of "a modern, enlarged store that will enable us to provide better service to our members," said Argeros.

The MIT Coop has sold books, stationery supplies, men's and women's clothing, electronics records and art prints to MIT and the surrounding Kendall Square area since 1916.

Coop management said that the new store will help improve and develop "the retail environment in Kendall Square."

The planned expansion will "not only provide current customers with a more diverse assortment of merchandise, but enable The Coop to serve more people in the area," said Argeros.

The Harvard Cooperative Society, which has stores in Cambridge and Boston, was established in 1882 and is the oldest and largest cooperative in the United States.