Rising to the Challenge: Carnegie Mellon University Bookstore and Harvard Coop

All three institutions have shut down in-person classes and are moving instruction online for the rest of the academic year.

“Things are changing here on a daily—even hourly—basis, just like everywhere else,” said Kathleen K. Grace, CCR, director of university stores at CMU. “The main concern is the health of our people, of course. We want everyone to be safe.” To that end the bookstore has been extra-diligent about sanitation, such as wiping keyboards and credit-card terminals and reminding staff to wash and sanitize their hands.

Keeping the lines of communication open with employees has also been important. Grace said that at staff meetings employees have been encouraged to air their concerns and questions, and she is passing those along to the administration. “I think it helps just to know that we all have a lot of mutual concerns and we’re not in this alone,” she said.

One big concern is employee hours. “Our managers have talked about work for people to do even if we don’t have customers, like taking inventories, creating website videos, etc.,” Grace said. “We’ve done a lot of cross-training but still have opportunities to do more.” Some staffers are now able to catch up on special projects they didn’t have time for before.

The CMU Bookstore is carefully weighing its merchandise needs for now and over the next few months. The store slowed down its markdown schedule in case there were issues with receiving product down the road. But the uncertainty of campus events is making it difficult to plan ahead. The store will need merchandise for the summer session as well as its annual summer residential program for high schoolers—assuming they aren’t cancelled or conducted online.

“We don’t want to be overstocked if those don’t happen,” Grace said. “We’re also hedging our bets for fall. We’re concentrating on the basics, making sure we have them in stock. We’re working with our vendors to monitor the status of our orders. If things aren’t going to arrive as expected, we need to know and then make decisions about our plan for that product.”

The store has already cancelled some orders and postponed others. But, unexpectedly, the store has also placed some rush orders.

“The rush orders are mostly technology product,” she explained. “Our Technology Store has been inundated with orders as faculty and staff who can are transitioning to working from home. In some cases, that means laptops. In other cases, it means monitors and mice.”

Store staff have discussed what type of core products might be needed and how to continue delivery. “We’re also thinking about students who need to stay on campus, what needs they may have, and how we might be able to help them,” Grace said.

The physical store is closing for at least two weeks, in response to a plea from the governor that all retail shops shutter for now (except groceries and pharmacies), but online sales will still be processed. Even before the governor’s directive, the store staff had already started putting together an action plan in case the bricks-and-mortar location had to close.

“We’ve talked about the possibility of moving our technology product operation to our shared warehouse a couple miles away. We could order, receive, and process computer orders there. We could deliver with our truck locally and ship other units,” Grace said.

At the Harvard Coop, similar strategies are underway now that students living on the Harvard campus have moved back home for the rest of the term. “The spring semester had already begun, so our issue is more on how to deal with rentals that students have,” said Jerry Murphy, Coop president.

Traffic and sales immediately dropped, not surprisingly, and the store—which normally hosts numerous events throughout the year—cancelled everything on the schedule for the next two months. The Coop responded at first by shortening hours, Murphy said, particularly at the on-campus locations. “Our priority is being sensitive to employee needs and concerns and adjusting schedules, etc., as needed,” he said.

With many students no longer on campus, “we are focusing more on our online platform to reach our students and members and fill their needs through that channel,” he explained. On Monday, it was decided to shut down all five Coop locations until at least April 7.

Like the CMU Bookstore, though, the Harvard Coop plans to operate through its website and email. Since many employees will be working remotely, customer phone inquiries have been suspended.

“It’s a fluid situation with decisions needed to be made daily,” Murphy added. “The other major decision we are waiting on is how Harvard and MIT will handle commencement and reunions.”