"There was discussion about appealing more to the student body."

Woolfork, who visited the Coop about two years ago, said not much had changed.

"Last time I was there, [women's clothing] looked pretty much the same." woolfork says.

Dickson says attempts to meet customers' tastes, such as changing women's clothing, have been tried before.

"I think you can almost predict you would want textbooks that are cheaper, stationery that is cheaper, a different selection of clothing, and all that has been done over and over again," Dickson says.

But Dickson says the Coop will have to make major changes to stay viable.

"I think that the Coop will change," Dickson says. "As you know, it's basically a college bookstore and a department store. One real question is whether in fact a sort of small to midsized department store has a future in the retail world."

A Different Era?

Some parts of the Coop may be absolete, Dickson says.

Forty years ago, male students were required to wear a coat and tie to meals.

Now, "unless they're used to buying suits at the Coop, and they'll only buy suits at the Coop or nowhere else, [they] don't...go to Harvard Square to buy a suit unless [they] don't have a choice," Dickson says.

Opinions about the Coop's future fall into two camps, Moel says.

"There's one camp that says the Coop has lost its brand name," Moel says. "With Harvard Square being what it is, people don't think of the Coop as part of the shopping experience."

The other side focuses less on image and more on dollars, Moel says.

"I'm more the pragmatic type," Moel says. "If you give the students a financial incentive to shop there, they will. But I don't know what form that would take or how that's possible."