Publication: A Princeton Companion
Princeton University Store, The, colloquially known originally as the Univee Store, later as the U-Store, has been doing business since 1905. It was an outgrowth of a student-managed bookstore that began modest operations in a corner room of West College in 1896. Robert C. McNamara '03, first manager 1905-1908, added athletic supplies and extended the Store's quarters into two more rooms. (He eventually became chairman of the board of Scott, Foresman & Co.) B. Franklin Bunn '07, manager 1908-1947, added most of the Store's present departments and extended its quarters to include the entire first floor of West College, with a separate shop for music in town. Under the direction of Frederick John Worthington (B.A., University of Colorado, 1937, M.S., New York University 1938) who became manager in 1947, the Store in 1958 combined all of its activities under one roof in a new building of its own at 36 University Place, designed by Eldredge Snyder '22.
When McNamara left in 1908, annual sales were $60,000, and when Bunn retired in 1947 they were $1,100,000. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1976, they were $5,500,000.
The Store is a cooperative society whose membership is open to University members and alumni and also members of the Theological Seminary and the Institute for Advanced Study. It pays its members an annual rebate, which reached a peak of 12� percent the first year after World War II and leveled off at 7.64 in the mid-seventies.
The Store is governed by a board of trustees, composed of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, administration, alumni, and the manager. Dean of the Faculty Henry B. Fine '80 and University Secretary Charles W. McAlpin '88, who were prime movers in the founding of the Store, were trustees for many years. Dean of the Faculty J. Douglas Brown '19, Chandler Cudlipp '19, one-time vice-president of McCutcheon's and later head of his own interior designing firm in New York City, and John H. Leh '21, senior partner of the H. Leh and Co. department store, Allentown, Pennsylvania, made notable contributions as trustees to the Store's later development.
The Store's membership as of June 30, 1976, numbered some 46,000.
From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).