We are one of eight student run businesses at the University of Massachusetts. Besides us, there is Earthfoods, a vegetarian cafe, People's Market, a vegetarian grocery, Bike Co-op, dedicated to bike sales and service, Tix, responsible for campus center vending and event ticket sales, Greeno Sub Shop, a restaurant in the basement of Greenough Dorm, Sylvan Snack Shop, a late night snack bar in Sylvan, and Sweets N' More, a sweet shop in Orchard Hill.
We are all full time undergrad students in addition to managing our co-op. We manage and coordinate every aspect of our business and storefront, from payroll, purchasing, and scheduling to sweeping the floors, ringing the registers, and actually making copies. We provide low prices because we have low overhead and do not aim to turn a profit. This is one part of our cooperative ideal. The other half is that we run the business as co-managers, each having a 1/12th stake and vote in the major and day to day decisions regarding the short term and long term direction of CD&C. Specific directives, like advertising, hiring and training, and design, are handled by 5 committees. All co-managers meet together once a week, every Monday night for all staff. It is here that the previous week is discussed, the next week planned, and all other general issues aired out alongside committee reports and weekly updates. We all split up shift time equally, and integrate it into our day to day operation of the store. Communication is key to keeping things together, and through regular meetings and a lot of post-it notes we keep our business operating and serving the community.
We are located on the 3rd floor of the student union near the elevators in room 403. We are open from 10am-5pm Monday to Thursday and on Friday from 10am-2:30pm. If you'd like to get in contact with us, shoot us an email at cdandc@gmail.com or give us a call at 413-545-2271. You can also send us a fax using this number 413-545-0210. Most of our information is at the bottom of each page.