Newcomer: Not Just Books

The newest entry in the Harvard Square book market is determined not to be just another bookstore.

Like many of its competitors, Barillari Books at the newly developed One Mifflin Place, offers a wide selection of everything from classic literature to the latest in coffee table reading.

But unlike the Square's numerous other bookstores, Barillari offers a few extra amenities--among them an outdoor patio, an espresso bar and live chamber music on Sundays.

Billed as "Harvard Square's largest discount bookstore," Barillari fits neatly into the redevelopment of the Square's western end.

However, the store is far enough removed from the main action of the Square that it does not often attract large crowds. Although it has been open since April, Barillari is still one of the area's best kept secrets. So well kept, in fact, that at about 4:30 p.m. yesterday, there were only five customers in the store.

Nonetheless, those who do frequent the store, drawn by the quiet reading space which the patio offers, are an unusually intense breed of book lover. One patron, when asked what he thought of the new store, replied that he was too absorbed in his book to answer any questions.

Second-time customer Margie Prager praised the store's "elbow room," and its many offerings in children's literature.

"This is the only bookstore whose children's section rivals the Coop's," said Prager.