Thomas More Book Shop Closes Its Doors Forever

Lack of demand for the Confessions of St. Augustine and other Christian classics has forced a longtime Holyoke Center fixture to shut its doors for good.

The Thomas More Book Shop closed down on December 31 because of low sales, said Donald A. Wells, executive director of the Massachusetts Bible Society, which owned the store.

"It wasn't a profitable location for us," Wells said, adding that a Mrs. Fields cookie shop would probably attract more business than a store catering to religious bibliophiles.

But Harvard Real Estate (HRE) Vice President Nancy E. Kossan said that cookies are not on their way. Instead, the University's for-profit arm plans to move Harvard's human resources division into the spot, Kossan said.

Kossan added that the shop had been guaranteed the same rent as that charged to University offices in the building.

The shop moved to Holyoke Center several years ago when Harvard agreed to stabilize its rent, Wells said. Four years ago, the Bible Society bought the bookstore from the New York-based Seabury Press, he added.

"We wanted them to stay," said Cossan.

And, said Wells, "They [HRE officials] were very gracious and very helpful...They tried to help us in every way possible."

Gladys P. Gifford, president of the Harvard Square Defense Fund, said she attributed the store's demise to its location in Holyoke Center's arcade, which does not lend itself easily to "walk-through" business.

"Holyoke Center isn't one of the 'hot corners,'" she said, adding, "Harvard Square has 32 bookstores, but you can't bury a bookstore in a place where it can't get visibility."

Wells said the Bible Society still has a healthy mail order business, and that their store at the Andover-Newton Theological School has absorbed much of the stock of the Thomas More store.