New Mall Is Faltering

At the Shops by Harvard Yard, they call their mission "experimental" and "dynamic." They say the three businesses that closed down there in the notquite four months since the mall has been open were "temporary tenants" and never intended to stick around.

We think the people at the Shops by Harvard Yard are very good spin doctors. We don't think the much-hyped venture is proving financially successful, either for Harvard or for most of the tenants who have leased spaced there. And we think we know why.

First, the facts. The Shops opened on Oct.. 20 with a gala reception and a lot of hoopla. Clearly, Harvard had invested a lot in transforming the dark, dank corridor that ran through Holyoke Center into a bright, warm gallery of shops, kiosks and cafes. Indeed, just the neon-accented sign out front cost the University more than $100,000.

But by early January, the first signs of trouble were unmistakable. Two of the kiosks had quietly shut down, replaced by kiosks advertising the entrepreneurial possibilities the Shops offer. Many of the rest were complaining of slow business and not enough Harvard-sponsored publicity. Marino's--the Italian restaurant that opened several weeks late on the Mt. Auburn St. side of the mall--was causing problems at the University Health Services with the smoke from its woodburning grill.

Then, over the last few days, another business shut down--and this time, it was a regular store, not just a kiosk. Or was it? Melanie Ray, the Harvard Real Estate vice president charged with overseeing the Shops, claims the store, Keely's Kites, was actually meant to be a kiosk. And kiosk tenants, she says, are only meant to stay around for three to six months, and then either expand or "move on."

Ray denies any trouble and says the rapid turnover is to be expected. "We feel it's important that we remain as flexible as we can," she says. "Because its experimental, you don't know what mix will work." The fact is, though, that renting and re-renting shops every three to six months is a very expensive way of doing business. And no smart landlord wants as rapid a turnover as that.

The problem with the Shops by Harvard Yard is that they're too trendy and too expensive for average students--who make up an important component of the local economy. In this way, Shops are symptomatic of the upscale fever that is infecting Harvard Square. Furthermore, many of the Shops sell frivolous and strange merchandise--like handmade southwestern-style headbands and weird psychedelic quilts--that would be undesirable at any price. Where once we had discount bookstores, now we have Keely's Kites and Life's a Grind, a now defunct kiosk that sold salt and pepper grinders.

By promoting a glossy image and accompanying steep rents--Ray says the Shops charge tenants anywhere from $35 to $60 a square foot--Harvard is practicing bad business and encouraging entrepreneurs to sell wares which nobody really wants. If the University wants to save the Shops--and it can--the answer is to lower the rent and fill the mall with stores students will want to frequent.