A Sad Day for a Sweet Tooth

Herrell’s Ice Cream, the Harvard Square sweet-tooth haven famous for “Herrell’s dollars” and apple pie à la mode, has announced that it will close its doors after 27 years of service. And while its management plans to reinvent the space as a casual dining establishment that will still serve some ice cream, it’s a sad day whenever such a deeply rooted institution is forced to close, regardless of the reasons why.

On the subject of reasons, however, there is an interesting twist to the demise of Herrell’s—one that isn’t necessarily explained by rising operating costs or the strain of the recession. Apparently, JP Licks, a competing ice-cream vendor that opened in a strategic Mass. Ave. location last summer, benefitted from financial incentives offered by Harvard University. The university owns the real estate JP Licks currently occupies, and it essentially invited the franchise in, offering the popular Boston-area chain preferential access to the space and a lease at a below-market rate. To some, such incentives smack of the sort of anti-competitive practices that have no place in a free-market system.

But these objections ignore the fact that Harvard does own the real estate it currently leases to JP Licks and has the right to bring in the tenants it wants. As a university, Harvard has a vested interest in leasing to businesses that together can provide a certain type of collegiate community geared toward the interests and needs of students. The university clearly judged that JP Licks was one of those businesses, and, as much as we have appreciated Herrell’s service over the past three decades, we have no complaint about the role Harvard may have played in its demise. (And, while we appreciate Harvard’s interest in the well-being of the Harvard Square community when choosing its tenants, it would be nice to see the same interest relayed across the river in Allston where the university currently owns a number of properties in anticipation of construction.)

Still, we were curious about the particular decision to bring in JP Licks as opposed to all the other options Harvard might have explored. The statements from university real-estate officials who claimed that encouraging JP Licks to come into the Square was in line with their “commitment to local businesses that bring a unique and quality product” seemed odd. After all, while JP Licks is a local business with a quality product, so is Herrell’s, which has offered the same product for 27 years. If Harvard is truly committed to local businesses with “unique” products, why bring in one that serves a virtually identical function as another?

While those sorts of questions will linger, the unfortunate bottom line is that Herrell’s is closing soon, possibly by November. Its unique approach to ice cream will surely be missed, and we encourage our readers to savor its treats while they still can.