Businesses Push Shopping Locally

Harvard Square shops and restaurants are staying afloat despite grim prospects for the holiday shopping season nationally. Still, the Square is pushing for ways to bolster business—especially for locally owned, independent shops.

“We are always in campaign mode, encouraging people to come to Harvard Square,” said Denise A. Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Businesses Association. “It is our mission to promote commerce in Harvard Square.”

HSBA coordinates several events throughout the year to encourage more people to come to the Square, including the winter celebration Sparklefest, to take place on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21. Sparklefest will feature ice skating at the Charles Hotel, a holiday parade, and promotional offers from local stores and restaurants.

Jillson said that while the association is always looking for new ways to reach out to wider shopper demographics, shops and restaurants are making an extra push to reach out to customers this winter in light of the economic crisis.

“We are encouraging retailers to join Sparklefest events, to remain competitive, and keep their doors open and lights on,” she said.

Jillson said that Harvard Square businesses have been doing well as a whole, but also said that it is important for HSBA to support the locally owned shops, which—despite their prevalence—do not occupy as much square footage in the Square as the national chains.

At the moment, 98 percent of the business locations in the Square are occupied. Seventy-eight percent of the nearly 390 business locations in the square are locally owned, 6 percent are regional stores such as JP Licks, and 16 percent are national chains.

“It is so important for us to continue to promote the Square, particularly the independently owned businesses, and particularly the newly established ones,” she said. “We seem to be doing okay, but we don’t yet know what the first and second quarter will bring once the inauguration is over.”

Harvard’s stake in the success of local businesses is substantial.

According to James Gray, associate vice president for Harvard Real Estate Services, the University owns around 10 percent of the retail locations in Harvard Square. Harvard Book Store and Leavitt & Pearce are among the more famous shops.

“There is a wonderful mix of unique stores that you can’t find at the local malls,” Gray said. “People should ask themselves if they’d rather support the independent businesses that make Harvard Square so special, or go to the homogenized malls where much of the world does a lot of shopping.”

Jillson also said she noticed a trend of independent stores opening in the past year to replace national chains. Crema Café, for instance, replaced Jasmine Sola, and Passport Boutique replaced Caché.

Three businesses—Topaz, Looks, and Cambridge Eye Doctors—that have opened recently in the Square moved from upper Mass. Ave locations.

“What this tells me is that property owners and business managers here are really willing to negotiate space arrangements with locally owned independents,” Jillson said. “There’s a real desire to be in a very desirable location, the Square.”

—Staff writer Shan Wang can be reached at wang38@fas.harvard.edu.