Coopérative de l'Université de Sherbrooke

Name

Coopérative de l'Université de Sherbrooke

Legal name

Coopérative de l'Université de Sherbrooke

Website

https://usherbrooke.coop

Company type

Private

Founded year

1966

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Coopérative de l'Université de Sherbrooke is a consumer cooperative founded in 1966 that serves the Université de Sherbrooke community through three on-campus locations, operating a bookstore, licensed convenience store, reprography, catering (Café CAUS), and digital publication distribution under a privileged-partner arrangement.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Campus Retail and Bookstore Services

NAICS

Office Supplies, Stationery, and Gift Retailers (4594), Book Retailers and News Dealers (4592), Used Merchandise Retailers (459510)

SIC

Retail-Miscellaneous Retail (5900)

akta.pro primary industry

Campus Bookstore-Adjacent Retail (Snacks, Beverages, Essentials) (EDALADAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Coffee Shops, Cafés & Beverage Programs (EDALADAG), Office, School & Business Supplies Online Retailers (CRAFADAL)

Keywords

• Campus bookstore services
• Consumer cooperative retail
• Digital textbook publishing
• University catering services
• Custom promotional merchandise

Headquarters

HQ city

Sherbrooke

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Retail Sales - Books and Textbooks: New and used book sales including textbooks, course notes, novels, youth books, and general literature. Membership-based pricing with instant rebates for members on purchases.
2. Stationery and Supplies: Stationery products, computer accessories, and office supplies sold to students and faculty with member discounts.
3. Apparel and Promotional Items: UdeS and Vert & Or branded clothing, accessories, medical scrubs, nurse uniforms, diploma frames, and custom promotional articles. Custom design services for student associations, faculties, and university groups.
4. Digital Publications: Digital books, course notes, and audio books sold at publisher-set prices. Revenue shared with publishers; no member discounts apply as prices are fixed by publishers.
5. Food Service - Licensed Dépanneur and Catering: Licensed convenience store and café services including specialty coffees, hot beverages, microbrewery beers, wine, pastries, sandwiches, snacks, ready-to-eat meals, groceries, frozen meals, dairy products, pharmacy items, and gift cards. Catering service (Café CAUS) for events.
6. Reprography Services: Printing, scanning, binding, lamination, course notes printing, business cards, and small-quantity offset printing, infographic services, and fax. On-campus service at Campus principal.
7. Transportation Passes: Sale of LIMOCAR bus tickets and STS monthly passes and recharges at the Campus principal convenience store.
8. Community Services to Institutions: Service to educational institutions including municipal libraries and school boards in Estrie region, selling books under two Ministry of Culture and Communications licenses (general and specialized in medicine).
9. Membership Fees: Lifetime membership sales at $25 CAD including taxes. Membership provides access to member-only discounts and voting rights in general assemblies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Coopérative de l'Université de Sherbrooke is a consumer cooperative that sells books, textbooks, course notes, stationery, computer accessories, branded apparel, and digital publications through three campus bookstores and an e-commerce site. It also operates a licensed convenience store, a catering service (Café CAUS), reprography/printing services, and a custom promotional article design service for student associations and faculties. Members pay a one-time lifetime $25 CAD membership fee to receive instant discounts on most purchases, with annual surplus reinvested into the university community.

Product overview

The Coopérative de l'Université de Sherbrooke is a consumer cooperative founded in 1966 that operates multiple distinct service divisions. Its core products and services include: (1) the Librairie (bookstore) division with three campus branches offering books, textbooks, used books, stationery, IT accessories, medical accessories, and official UdeS and Vert & Or branded merchandise; (2) digital publications including adapted ePub 3 books for accessibility, MP3 audiobooks, and DRM-protected textbooks and study notes; (3) a licensed convenience store (dépanneur licencié) with prepared foods and beverages; (4) Café CAUS catering services (a cooperative of solidarity, established 2009); (5) reprography and printing services; (6) promotional article design and turnkey online store services; (7) the 3IT branded clothing line; (8) graduation frame products; and (9) a joint fund supporting eco-responsible clothing purchases for student associations. The cooperative holds general and specialized (medicine) bookstore licenses from the Ministry of Culture and Communications. Digital publications are accessed via ByteBooks authentication, with reading support across Adobe Digital Editions, Bluefire Reader, and Pocketbook Reader applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Division Librairie (Bookstore Division) The bookstore division operates three retail branches across the Université de Sherbrooke campuses (Campus principal, Campus de la santé, Campus de Longueuil) selling new and used books, textbooks and course notes, stationery, IT and medical accessories, scrubs, nurse uniforms, diploma frames, and UdeS/Vert & Or branded merchandise. Holds general and specialized (medicine) bookstore licenses from Quebec's Ministry of Culture and Communications.
• Dépanneur licencié et prêt-à-manger Licensed convenience store offering specialty coffees, hot beverages, craft beers, wines, pastries, muffins, sandwiches, snacks, ready-to-eat meals, grocery items, frozen meals, dairy products, confectionery, pharmacy items, and greeting cards, operating at the Campus principal.
• Service de reprographie Printing, scanning, binding, lamination, course notes printing, business cards, and infographic services offered at the Campus principal, open Monday to Friday 8:00-16:00.
• Service aux collectivités Institutional sales service for municipal libraries and school boards in Estrie, supported by bookstore accreditations from Quebec's Ministry of Culture and Communications. Includes a weekly new releases list and a physical new releases room at the main campus with free parking.
• Café CAUS / Service traiteur Catering and food service operation (a cooperative of solidarity) offering event catering, delivery, equipment rental, and event setup services at Sherbrooke, inspired by current food trends and using carefully selected quality suppliers.
• Service de conception d'articles promotionnels personnalisés Custom promotional article design service for associations, faculties, student groups, and teams, including custom clothing and branded merchandise. Contact via the promo team for quotes.
• Service clef en main (Boutique en ligne clé en main) Full-service turnkey online store setup for student associations and groups, including promotional article creation with custom logos, supplier coordination, store page customization, product uploads, payment management, and delivery to the desired address.
• RÉGime (Service de livres usagés) Used textbook buy-back and sales service implemented at the Université de Sherbrooke to facilitate the purchase and sale of second-hand textbooks among students, with community engagement via the RÉGime Facebook page.
• Livres numériques adaptés (ePub 3 accessibles) Accessible digital books in ePub 3 format designed for readers with visual impairments, physical disabilities, or learning disorders, featuring adjustable font size, text/background contrast adjustment, text-to-speech synthesis, and interactive navigation in the table of contents.
• Livres audio MP3 Audio books in DRM-free MP3 format playable on any audio-capable application or device, providing an alternative reading format for users who face challenges with printed text.
• Publications numériques Digital publications (PDF and EPUB formats, some with DRM protection) including textbooks, study notes, and literary works sold at publisher-set prices. Downloads are available for 36 months from purchase via the 'My Digital Products' section of the member profile.
• Service de téléchargement et lecture de publications numériques A guided process for purchasing members to access protected digital publications using ByteBooks authentication and recommended reading applications (Adobe Digital Editions, Bluefire Reader, Pocketbook Reader) across multiple devices. As of 23 June 2026, ByteBooks replaced Adobe IDs for authentication.
• Billets de transport (LIMOCAR et STS) Transportation pass sales at the convenience store for LIMOCAR bus tickets and STS monthly recharge and passes.
• Fonds conjoint pour l'acquisition de chandails écoresponsables A joint fund established with the Université de Sherbrooke, FEUS, REMDUS, and Campus durable to support student associations in purchasing eco-responsible clothing (organic and/or fair-trade fibre) made in Canada, subsidizing up to 75% of the price difference versus conventional clothing, with a maximum of $1,000 per order.
• Service de gestion des prescriptions Online prescription management system for teachers to submit required course materials, which students can then access and purchase through the cooperative's bookstore.
• Adhésion à la coopérative (Lifetime Membership) Lifetime membership sold at $25 CAD including taxes. Provides instant discounts on books, textbooks, stationery, computer accessories, software, and board games, plus exclusive contests and promotions, voting rights in general assemblies, and eligibility to stand for board elections. Membership never expires.

Quantifiable outcome

• Members receive instant discounts on books, textbooks, stationery, computer accessories, software, and board games

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Université de SherbrookecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrivileged partner of the university for bookstore services since 2007 and food services via Café CAUS since 2009. Merged in 2013 to form a single entity. The university provides physical campus locations and collaborates on student services.
• Café CAUS (Coopérative de solidarité)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSolidarity cooperative merged with the university bookstore cooperative in 2013. Café CAUS provides food services and catering for university events. Now operates as the food services division of the combined cooperative.
• Coopsco (Coopsco des Laurentides)majorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFederated cooperative network providing shared technology platform, central services, and network coordination for university cooperatives across Quebec. Coopsco headquarters is in Victoriaville, QC.
• ByteBooksmajorTechnology or IntegrationDigital rights management provider for protected digital publications. Since June 2026, ByteBooks has replaced Adobe IDs for authenticating reading applications. Used for PDF and EPUB protected digital content distribution.
• PurolatorminorOthersExpress shipping provider for online orders. Delivers to customer addresses with signature required. Provides tracking numbers for order status updates.
• Postes Canada (Canada Post)minorOthersShipping provider for certain Canadian destinations including remote areas, maritime provinces, and territories where Purolator service is unavailable.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Indigo Books & Music: Canada's largest bookstore chain with omnichannel retail of books, stationery, gifts, and lifestyle products. Comparable on retail merchandise mix and Canadian market context but operates at consumer-retail scale rather than campus-specific model.
• Barnes & Noble College: Operates campus bookstores at more than 700 U.S. colleges and universities, including textbook rental, digital content, and branded merchandise. Comparable campus retail offering at much larger scale with a multi-institution national footprint.
• Follett Higher Education: Largest North American operator of college bookstores, running physical stores plus digital course materials (Follett Discover, BryteWave) at hundreds of campuses. Comparable in function (campus bookstore operator) but at vastly larger scale, for-profit model, and U.S.-centric footprint.
• Renaud-Bray: Major Quebec-based French-language bookstore chain offering new and used books online and across multiple retail locations. A direct regional competitor for textbook, novel, and French-language literature sales in the same Quebec market.

Direct peers

• COOP UdeM (Coopérative de l'Université de Montréal): Cooperative bookstore and campus retailer serving Université de Montréal under the same Coopsco federation, offering the same core product mix (textbooks, stationery, branded merchandise) with member-discount pricing and identical institutional sales permissions.
• Coopérative de l'UQAM: UQAM's consumer cooperative providing bookstore and campus services to Université du Québec à Montréal students via the Coopsco platform. Directly comparable Quebec university cooperative with similar revenue mix and privileged-partner arrangement.
• Coopérative de l'Université Laval: Quebec consumer cooperative serving Université Laval students with the same combined bookstore, stationery, food, and campus-services model under the Coopsco network. Most direct structural analog given shared province, cooperative model, and university partnership.

Others

• Coopsco (Réseau des coopératives d'alimentation et de détails): Federated parent network of Quebec university and school cooperatives providing shared technology platform, central procurement, and brand coordination. Functions as ecosystem orchestrator and indirect peer for shared services rather than a direct retail competitor.

Emerging players

• Chegg: U.S.-based textbook rental, digital textbook, and student-services platform that has materially disrupted the campus bookstore model. Comparable in serving university students' textbook needs but via a digital-first, multi-institution model rather than physical campus stores.
• VitalSource Technologies: Digital textbook and course-content delivery platform used by publishers and universities worldwide. Competes for the digital course-material share of student spend that the cooperative is exposed to but cannot discount.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/coopuds
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/coopudes

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Coopérative de l'Université de Sherbrooke