The Cornell Store serves Cornell's students faculty,
staff, alumni and visitors by providing a specialized selection
of products and services. We will consistently deliver:
- "legendary service" to
our customers;
- a rewarding work experience to our coworkers; and
- outstanding fiscal performance to the University.
The Cornell Store is fully owned by Cornell University and
proceeds support the university.
The Cornell Store is a department of Cornell Business Services,
within the division of Finance & Administration (CUFA). The
director of Cornell Business Services is Thomas Romantic, CCR,
Senior Director Supply Channel Management & Business Services.
The origins of The Cornell Store began in 1895 when a group
of students formed the Cornell Cooperative Society. The purpose
was to provide better selection, service and prices than those
provided at the time by local merchants. The organization was
a student-faculty cooperative and was housed in the basement
of Morrill Hall. The Co-op prospered in its endeavors and even
operated its own printing plant. It expanded in Morrill Hall,
but by 1925 it needed to move to a larger space in Barnes Hall.
In
Barnes Hall the store had a number of unanticipated challenges.
The new location, having three times the total space, challenged
the management to use the additional space creatively. Besides
the management and display problems, the Co-op also ran into
increased competition, since many people began to patronize the
newly built Willard Straight Hall and the University Purchasing
Department.
After World War II the Society became a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Cornell. In April 1952, the name of the organization
was changed to The Campus Store. In 1954, the Co-op
remodeled Barnes Hall occupying the first floor in addition
to the basement. But this was also quickly filled and within
ten years, the store was considering plans for the construction
of a new store.
The
end of the 1960's saw the construction of a new store building
designed by architects Earl R. Flansburgh & Associates
of Cambridge, Mass, which is the store's current site. In January
of 1969 "Progressive Architecture" selected the Campus
Store at Cornell for one of the 16 Annual Design Awards.
In the 1980s
there were a series of renovations and innovations designed
to make the store more efficient. Improvements included connecting
four separate sales spaces into one contiguous shopping area
and changing processes for semester-opening sales. This reduced
the wait time in line from approximately one hour (example
from 1975) to four minutes. Other innovations included additions
to the product line (computer hardware and software and custom
published course packets) and adding online services through
Bear Access and the store web site.
The Cornell Store is a founding member of the Retail Alliance,
an innovative consortium that negotiates for better terms from
suppliers and even was able to buy its own systems provider.
In 2001, to better identify the store to the increased number
of distant customers, the name was changed to The Cornell Store.
The Cornell Store currently operates one satellite location
in the Statler Hotel and in Sage Hall.
