Felipe’s In, Poetry Out for Square Shops

For 35 years, Gary Newmark has sold magazines at Nini’s Corner Newsstand. From his post looking over Harvard Square, he says he sees fewer people walk by with bags every year.

“Years ago there were a ton of people coming through...Harvard Square is not the place it used to be. It’s like a mall now. Lot of originality, nostalgia is gone,” he said earlier this month.

Indeed, this year, two landmark stores—the Grolier Poetry Book Shop and Brine’s Sporting Goods—announced they would close.

But unlike the past three years, which were mired by a recession, Harvard Square is on the upswing.

Eleven new businesses, ranging from flower shops to taquerias, have opened in the past year.

And many existing businesses reported steady sales and, by spring, a resurgence in foot traffic.

“Over the past 12, 18 months you see a slow increase,” said John P. DiGiovanni, the president of Trinity Property Management who this spring launched a successful campaign to extend the hours of three eateries in the Garage. “It’s picking up a bit.”

MOVING IN

Across from Nini’s Corner, Cross, the 158-year-old pen company, launched its first ever stand-alone shop five weeks ago. The store was so popular on its first day of business—1,500 visited—that it stayed open an extra half hour.

Cross Assistant Manager Emily Dryden said that since the grand opening, business at the paper products and pen store had been “great.”

“We sell more pens than anybody else who sells Cross pens,” she said.

And as Cross moved in, some other businesses returned home.

Adidas opened an Adidas Originals store in the location it had vacated in 2000 at the corner of Plympton Street and Mass. Ave.

Tony Ferranti, the owner of the Ferranti-Dege camera shop on Mass. Ave, said the new Adidas had helped all of the stores on Mass. Ave.

“Nothing will cripple a block [more] than having an empty store,” he said.

Shelagh Racicot, the visual merchandiser at Adidas, said sales at the store have been “steady.”

“It comes in waves. It’s been slow. [Then], pretty good,” she said. Racicot added that the store will add a sign soon, a change that she thinks will make business pick up.

Another eatery returned to the Square after a leave of absence.

The Baskin Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts made famous in the movie Good Will Hunting returned to a storefront at the corner of Mass. Ave and Bow Street in September, adjacent to a location they had vacated three years prior.

For yet another new restaurant, business has been booming. The line at Felipe’s Taqueria frequently stretches to the door.

Moving in only two months after Real Taco failed in December, Felipe’s co-owner Tom Brush said business at the taqueria was so strong that it was often hard to close at the end of the day.

TOO SOON TO TELL

Although DiGiovanni praised the flurry of openings as a positive development, he warned that the new shops would have to weather the Square’s environment.

“[This year] places went out and other things [went] in quickly,” said DiGiovanni, who is the president of the Harvard Square Business Association. “[But you] hope you get it right. We obviously didn’t with Real Taco.”

And while some worried about keeping new stores open, others expressed concern about the impact of the changes.

Harvard Square Defense Fund (HSDF) President Jinny Nathans said the Cross store did not fit the character of the Square.

“You hate to lose a neighborhood service business...for what is essentially another gift [shop],” she said.

Newmark said that as more and more upscale stores move in, the Square’s draw would deteriorate.

“It’s like a mall now. You can go to the mall and get the same things.”

Tony Ferranti, owner of the Ferranti Dege camera store, noticed the same trend.

“The Square has been less hospitable to the general buying public,” he said. “The uniqueness of the past 40, 50 years has been mom and pop stores, [but an] awful lot of that is gone.”

KEEPING UP

As new stores crept in, several existing businesses reported increased sales.

Some store owners said they had managed to thrive in the Square business climate by keeping up with consumer trends.

Michael Braverman, the owner of Hidden Sweets, said that even though the Square was “a lot more crowded 10 years ago,” the store he opened in Brattle Square last June had done well because he sold a fresh variety of gifts, party goods, cards and candy.

“I work very hard and long to make it work. [It’s] an exciting location,” he said. He added that he had no plans to close the original Hidden Sweets on Church Street next to the Loews Theater.

At the Vitamin Shoppe, assistant manager Jesse Rizutko said sales were up because of the Atkins diet craze.

Tarek Hassan, the owner of the Tannery, said his business had increased 10 percent since last year because of the popularity of Arches and sneakers.

“[It’s] just because of the mix of the products—some new—Arches, sneakers being important...business is good,” he said.

TOURIST TRAP

Despite increased sales, Hassan said he would have liked to have seen more tourists over the last year.

Ferranti echoed the complaint and said business at the camera store was “pretty bad.”

“For years we did have 12 months of the year of tourist trade—buses lined up—and they’d start buying,” he said. “I think the U.S. [today] is not a particularly pleasant place for Europeans, South Americans, Asians to come to. We’ve managed to alienate a lot of the world.”

He added that the increased popularity of digital photography was also hurting business.

But Robyn Thieringer, executive director of the Cambridge Office for Tourism, said there was hope for a resurgence of visitors.

“I’m cautiously optimistic...I think it’s a lot stronger than last year [at this time]. We’ll see what summer does,” she said.

Thieringer added that she had heard from local hotels that they have fewer vacancies.

Indeed, Manoj Nayak, the assistant manager of J. August, a store that sells Harvard merchandise, said more tourists were stopping by.

“After Sept. 11 [business was] terrible because of tourists. [But] this year is a little better than last,” he said.

J. August Manager Dimitri Tragos added that the weakness of the dollar had also been helping sales since it made his goods cheaper for foreigners.

LATE-NIGHT DINING

Students, not tourists, are the customers that John DiGiovanni hopes to attract by extending the hours of eateries in the Garage.

On May 27, in a meeting room in the basement of the Lombardi Municipal Building, the Cambridge License Commission unanimously approved his request to extend the hours of three restaurants to 2 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Jason Sweeney, the owner of the Ben and Jerry’s in the Garage, said the businesses that had received the extensions—Ben and Jerry’s, Boston Chowda and Formaggio Delicatessen—would extend their hours together in the “coming weeks.”

At the May 27 meeting, the License Commission also approved a request by the Grafton Street Pub and Grille to extend its closing time from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.

At the meeting, Cambridge Licensing Commission Executive Director Richard V. Scali said the Commission had not extended the hours of a bar in the Square for 17 years.

“It’s a capped district. License times [are] frozen in the Square,” said James Rafferty, Grafton Street’s lawyer, who explained that the bar was able to bypass the cap by going directly to the City Council with its request before going to the Licensing Commission.

DiGiovanni and Peter Lee, the co-owner of Grafton Street, said the later hours were designed to respond to consumer demand.

But G. Pebble Gifford, the vice president of the HSDF, which opposed both DiGiovanni’s and Grafton Street’s requests, said the restaurants were just trying to salvage their sales.

“Retail stores are having a tough time,” she said. “The reason [the Commission] approved the request was they like to help businesses.”

Gifford said the HSDF was still contemplating whether or not it would appeal the Commission’s decision.

SPACE FOR SALE

In addition to later hours, the year ahead should bring even more new businesses to the Square.

Two real estate managers, Richard Getz and DiGiovanni, said there is interest in filling the current vacancies.

And Louisa Solano, who announced in March that she would close the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, citing internet competition, said at least nine people were interested in purchasing the space.

“It will be open until it sells,” she said.

In January, the Coop purchased the lease for the J. August space. At the same time, Barnes and Noble, which manages the Coop, took up managing J. August.

Jeremiah P. Murphy ’73, the president of the Coop, said the Coop had been negotiating to purchase another property in the Square and had picked up J. August’s lease in case the other deal fell through.

“We could use it for our operations...we’re pretty packed—nowhere to go if [we] want to expand trade book business. We used to have a greater space,” he said. Murphy added that the Coop had no immediate plans to move into the J. August space.

He said business at the Coop has improved this year.

“I think it’s become much stronger over the last couple months. I see more people from the area out and about,” he said.

—Staff writer Joseph M. Tartakoff can be reached at tartakof@fas.harvard.edu.