Murphy also pledged that the cooperative nature of the company, in which members are eligible for a share of profits, will remain intact.

"The Cooperative is the structure that we have believed in since 1882, and we'll continue to do so," Murphy said. "That's part of our mission and that's not going to change."

The Coop has reported losses for the past three years. But last month, General Manager Allan E. Powell told The Crimson that he expects The Coop to turn a profit this year, meaning that members may receive a rebate.

According to Murphy, The Coop will announce in late September whether the company made a profit during the last fiscal year.

I Like It Like This

Customers leaving the renovated Palmer Street Coop last Saturday seemed pleased with the work-in-progress.

"I like it-it looked really neat," said Nestor Tomycz'01, an art fan who had browsed in the new prints section with his parents.

Alex Dowling, whose parents are the masters of Leverett House, said she has shopped at the Coop all her life and is happy with the changes.

"I like it, except I can't figure out where anything is," Dowling said. "It seems like they carry everything now."

Natane A. Singleton '01 visited The Coop during pre-frosh weekend and said the renovations were an improvement.

"It's nice," Singleton said. "It offers a lot of variety."

However, not all of the visitors said they were pleased with the new look. Sangeeta Gupta, a medical student at Tufts, said the renovated spaces seem geared to tourists looking for Harvard merchandise.

"When I came here a long time ago it didn't look like this," Gupta said. "This looks more like a mall or a museum store than a campus store."

But Singleton's mother, Hamida S. Ward, said the renovation "shows class"-unlike the stationery building across the street, currently a make-shift space selling dorm items, close-outs and other merchandise.

"It just reminded me of K-Mart-no, not K-Mart, of one of those bargain basement stores," Ward said of the stationery building. "It's so sparse."