'Mom and Pop' Stores Leaving Square

To Shakespeare, brevity may be the soul of wit, but to the Harvard Square faithful, there was nothing pointedly funny about the brief message posted on the door of Elsie's Sand-wich Shop late last month.

"Elsie's will be closing December 30th. After 30 years, we are trying to relocate. Thank you for your patron-age."

Like Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, a mere 265 words, the terse Elsie's note also shows that even a little verbiage can say a lot:

Harvard Square, once a bastion of alternativism, quaint shops and inexpensive restaurants, is now being gentrified.

In the last decade, large franchise chains have infiltrated the business niches of the Square, successfully ousting the "mom and pop" shops--long the staples of the streets that surround the University.

Elsie's is typical of many of the smaller shops in the Square which have closed, because their clientele switched to more trendy franchise restaurants like Chili's and Au Bon Pain.

The sandwich shop, which has been feeding the Harvard community at its Mt. Auburn St. location for the last thirty years, officially closed December 30.

"There are a lot more choices for people to go to today," says Elsie's owner Phillip S. Markel. "Thirty years ago there weren't nearly as many restaurants in the Square, and we didn't have the Au Bon Pains of the world."

Markel and other long-time store owners in the Square say their profits have declined since the arrival of the larger chain stores a decade ago.

"People are eating more fast-food and take-out now," says Siam Garden owner Manope Mookhiruntara. "There used to be 10 or 11 Thai restaurants... now there are at least 100 of them in Boston and Cambridge and three in Harvard Square alone."

Mookhiruntara, who has owned the restaurant for 10 years, says his business has steadily been declining and, as a result, he has had to lay off about one-fifth of his staff.

"About 10 years ago, we had 140 to 150 people eating here on a weekday, now maybe 60 to 70," Mookhiruntara says. "Our income has dropped 20 percent in the last 10 years."

Although Mookhiruntura says the Siam Garden is doing well now, he admits to having seriously considered relocating after local competition increased and he began losing customers in droves.

"We thought about moving out from the Square to find another place, because the rent increased and our income decreased," Mookhiruntara says.

Le Foot Sportif on Mt. Auburn St. has also lost much of its business to larger chains that sell athletic footwear. City Sports, for example, moved into Holyoke Center last year.

"It's hard for the small, independent store to compete with the powerful chains," Le Foot Sportif owner Hezi Gabai says. "It would be pitiful to see the small store go, no matter if it is here or downtown on Main St."

Discount Records assistant manager Bob Matros says the large music store chains that have opened in the Square have hurt his business as well.

"We were the first [record] store here," Matros says. "[Since then] the competition has just piled up: Tower, HMV, Newbury. It's put a chokehold on us."

Many small business owners, acknowledging their self-interest in the issue, also argue that chain stores have changed the overall atmosphere of the Square.

"The smaller, unique stores add to the character and community of the Square. The bigger chains make it more sterile," says Newbury Comics manager Valerie Forgioni.

No More Room for Alternativism

Twenty years ago, the Square had a distinctive alternative atmosphere, with the presence of many street performers, punk rockers, and left-wing student activists. As the University and the surrounding community have become more apolitical in the last decade, many area residents say that the proliferation of trendy, yuppie stores in the Square has contributed to the loss of the "leftist" atmosphere.

"Most of the things that people identified with the Square have become marginalized," says Daniel Fernate, an employee at Eyeland on Mt. Auburn St. "The Square had much more of a Bohemian reputation."

Ferante, who grew up in nearby Lexington, says he used to come into the Square frequently when he was growing up, but now "would not come here without a particular purpose."

"There are still a few-cafes that are fun to go to, but they are few and far between and they're are all so crowded," Ferante adds.

Mookhiruntara says he, too, has noticed a drastic change in the Square's atmosphere since he used to hang out there during the 1970's.

"I've been coming into the Square for 25 years and it used to be more active," Mookhiruntara says. "Back when I was in college, I'd come in every weekend. I don't think I would come in here every weekend anymore, maybe once or twice but not every weekend."

Since the Square has become more homogenized in the recent years, local residents who want an alternative atmosphere visit other area locales, Ferante adds.

"There is nothing to perpetuate the Bohemian character here anymore," Ferante says. "Places like Central Square and Somerville will be known for that."

Even as recently as seven years ago, when Gabai opened Le Foot Sportif, the Square had a more eccentric feel to it.

"It's changed. We moved from the record to the CD-ROM age and you can tell," Gabai says. "It was a hippie crowd back then and now the crowd is still funky, but more sophisticated."

Cambridge resident Kevin Montague says the Square lost its unique atmosphere when large companies and banks moved into the area and began to advertise heavily.

"The Square has lost 40 percent of its alternative flavor...it has become more commercialized," says Montague, a volunteer at the Harvard Square Information Booth for more than eight years. "You used to come into the Square and not see all the advertising."

As a testament to the changing nature of the Square, Montague describes the businesses that surround his booth situated at the top of the Harvard "T" stop.

"We look out our window and we see the Coop, a department store, CVS, and six banks," Montague bemoans. "It's disappointing, you don't need a bank on every corner here."

Many employees and Cambridge politicians say the number of visitors to the Square has declined because the stores no longer offer unique merchandise and because what they do sell is too expensive.

"The Square is beginning to resemble the Burlington Mall," City Councilor Kathleen L. Born says. "And it's a terrible thing, because there is ultimately going to be a big loss in tourist dollars."

"There used to be a lot of low-cost cafeterias that would serve residents and students, now the cheapest meal you can get is at the Tasty," Born adds.

Store owners agree their surrounding neighborhood is beginning to resemble the local mall, a trend which they say is very disturbing.

"It used to be a small village with no chains at all except Woolworths," Harvard Shop owner Paul Corcoran says. "We're becoming more and more like a shopping center...this is not a good trend for the Square."

Harvard Bookstore owner Frank Kramer says trying to keep the mall-atmosphere out of the Square is "good business, not altruism."

"If we made Harvard Square into a mall just like any other mall, who would come?" Kramer asks.

City Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 says he regrets the transformation of the Square within the last decade, but adds that the Square's changes have merely mirrored the times.

"I think the Square is dictated by the economy; there is too much fast food, fast clothing, [and] I would like it to be a little...quieter," Duehay says. "There are too many new, trendy stores and it is hard for people in Cambridge to find shops and restaurants that appeal to them."

Business-Smart

While some Cambridge city councillors and many small business owners blame the "mall-ification" of the Square on large chain stores, owners and employees in these stores say their businesses have helped the Square attract more people.

"Although the alternative atmosphere may be ruined, from a business prospect, the large chains have brought in other genres of people and I don't think they have hurt the Square at all," says Tower Records manager Tracey Smith.

Tower Records opened its doors in Harvard Square in October 1991 and is one of 109 Tower stores around the world. Each Tower store is independently owned.

Smith says that business at her store "continues to grow each year." That growth has come in spite of the fierce competition between small and large music retailers in the Square. "HMV first opened three weeks after we did and business did drop substantially, then we leveled off," Smith says.

Smith dismisses the notion that competition has caused many small businesses to close. Instead, she says high rents around the Square have hurt small merchants.

"I think the [small businesses] will be squeezed out, not because of competition but because of the large rents...it is way too expensive for a small business person," Smith says.

Still, she laments that, because of the high cost of doing business there, "the Square will lose the general diversity that you get from small businesses."

Chili's general manager Matt Perry says the invasion of the large chains is inevitable in places like Harvard Square.

The Chilis restaurant opened in the Square in 1987, and Perry says business has increased every year. There are 19 Chili's restaurants in New England and two in the Boston area.

Perry says that people who typically like the quaint, friendly atmosphere of some of the small eating establishments in the Square should not be deterred by the large chains.

He says that even at a chain restaurant like his, patrons can get the same type of service and atmosphere as they would at a smaller restaurant.

"We've tried to create a more neighborhood bar atmosphere here, we have the same bartender who knows the regulars by name," Perry says.

"Personally I shop the independents whenever I can," he adds. "I like the mom and pop stores, but that does not mean you can't get mom and pop in a corporate atmosphere."

Stopping By

Some small business owners are especially glad that Chili's and other large chains have moved into the Square, because they say that consumers who shop at the large stores will usually stop by their quainter establishments.

"The bigger the company, the better the business for us," University Typewriter manager Justin Lopes said. "They draw more people into the Square."

Cambridge mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 agrees that chain stores have brought more people into the Square. Although he regrets that some small businesses have been forced to close, he says the phenomenon is nothing more than part of the business cycle.

"Stores do come and go; nothing in America stays the same," Reeves says.

But the mayor says that in the future, he would prefer places like One Brattle St., which contains such large, trendy shops as Structure and Express, be anomalies.

"In the future, I don't want to see any more One Brattles...I hope the smaller size stores can continue to be a part of the mix," Reeves says.

But Kristen Sudholz, the executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, says the mix between larger, trendier stores and smaller, more traditional shops already exists in the Square.

"The number of owner-operator stores [in Harvard Square] has actually increased since I've been here, from 165 to 240," she says.

Sudholz warns residents not to draw false conclusions about the Square based on the closing of several bookstores--including Barillari Books--in the past couple of years.

"It seems like a lot of bookstores have closed recently, but it is just because there's such a high percentage of them in the area," she says. "It's all relative."

A High-Rise Future?

Many small business owners and Cambridge politicians, however, do not share Sudholz's optimism. They believe the Square will change dramatically, for the worse, in the next 20 years.

"I am concerned that under the current zoning regulations of the Square, the Square could go high-rise, which would make it even more dense, more congested and more tourist-oriented," Duchay says. "That would be most regrettable."

Like Duchay, Marc Starr, the long-time manager of Starr Bookstore, says that high-rises in the Square will be "inevitable."

He concedes that if his store was not housed in the Harvard Lampoon building, it would face the distinct possibility of being sold to a real estate company who might shut it down.

"We are in the Lampoon building, so we know [my store] will not get torn down," Starr says. "But if we were in some private building, it would get bought and torn down."

The Costs of Development

Born blames some of her fellow city council members for allowing the Square to become more commercialized and homogeneous.

"Some of my colleagues want to see development at all cost," Born says.

She says that unless some council members change their attitudes, the Square, will continue to become "more like a mall and more the home of just students and wealthy people."

While Born and her fellow city councillors argue over the future direction of the Square, many small business owners on streets like Mt. Auburn, Brattle and Church, are rapidly being squeezed out of existence by the presence of the large chain stores.

As Le Foot Sportif's Gabai and other small business owners gaze monthly at their losses, they say they are comforted by one fact: in the end it is the consumer who will decide whether the Square becomes a mall or whether small business like their own will continue to figure prominently in the local landscape.

"It is up to the sophisticated consumer if they want to support the small, independent store or the big chain," Gabai says. "The verdict is in their hands."

Michael M. Luo and Andrew A. Green contributed to the reporting of this article.CrimsonJohn C. Mitchell

Markel and other long-time store owners in the Square say their profits have declined since the arrival of the larger chain stores a decade ago.

"People are eating more fast-food and take-out now," says Siam Garden owner Manope Mookhiruntara. "There used to be 10 or 11 Thai restaurants... now there are at least 100 of them in Boston and Cambridge and three in Harvard Square alone."

Mookhiruntara, who has owned the restaurant for 10 years, says his business has steadily been declining and, as a result, he has had to lay off about one-fifth of his staff.

"About 10 years ago, we had 140 to 150 people eating here on a weekday, now maybe 60 to 70," Mookhiruntara says. "Our income has dropped 20 percent in the last 10 years."

Although Mookhiruntura says the Siam Garden is doing well now, he admits to having seriously considered relocating after local competition increased and he began losing customers in droves.

"We thought about moving out from the Square to find another place, because the rent increased and our income decreased," Mookhiruntara says.

Le Foot Sportif on Mt. Auburn St. has also lost much of its business to larger chains that sell athletic footwear. City Sports, for example, moved into Holyoke Center last year.

"It's hard for the small, independent store to compete with the powerful chains," Le Foot Sportif owner Hezi Gabai says. "It would be pitiful to see the small store go, no matter if it is here or downtown on Main St."

Discount Records assistant manager Bob Matros says the large music store chains that have opened in the Square have hurt his business as well.

"We were the first [record] store here," Matros says. "[Since then] the competition has just piled up: Tower, HMV, Newbury. It's put a chokehold on us."

Many small business owners, acknowledging their self-interest in the issue, also argue that chain stores have changed the overall atmosphere of the Square.

"The smaller, unique stores add to the character and community of the Square. The bigger chains make it more sterile," says Newbury Comics manager Valerie Forgioni.

No More Room for Alternativism

Twenty years ago, the Square had a distinctive alternative atmosphere, with the presence of many street performers, punk rockers, and left-wing student activists. As the University and the surrounding community have become more apolitical in the last decade, many area residents say that the proliferation of trendy, yuppie stores in the Square has contributed to the loss of the "leftist" atmosphere.

"Most of the things that people identified with the Square have become marginalized," says Daniel Fernate, an employee at Eyeland on Mt. Auburn St. "The Square had much more of a Bohemian reputation."

Ferante, who grew up in nearby Lexington, says he used to come into the Square frequently when he was growing up, but now "would not come here without a particular purpose."

"There are still a few-cafes that are fun to go to, but they are few and far between and they're are all so crowded," Ferante adds.

Mookhiruntara says he, too, has noticed a drastic change in the Square's atmosphere since he used to hang out there during the 1970's.

"I've been coming into the Square for 25 years and it used to be more active," Mookhiruntara says. "Back when I was in college, I'd come in every weekend. I don't think I would come in here every weekend anymore, maybe once or twice but not every weekend."

Since the Square has become more homogenized in the recent years, local residents who want an alternative atmosphere visit other area locales, Ferante adds.

"There is nothing to perpetuate the Bohemian character here anymore," Ferante says. "Places like Central Square and Somerville will be known for that."

Even as recently as seven years ago, when Gabai opened Le Foot Sportif, the Square had a more eccentric feel to it.

"It's changed. We moved from the record to the CD-ROM age and you can tell," Gabai says. "It was a hippie crowd back then and now the crowd is still funky, but more sophisticated."

Cambridge resident Kevin Montague says the Square lost its unique atmosphere when large companies and banks moved into the area and began to advertise heavily.

"The Square has lost 40 percent of its alternative flavor...it has become more commercialized," says Montague, a volunteer at the Harvard Square Information Booth for more than eight years. "You used to come into the Square and not see all the advertising."

As a testament to the changing nature of the Square, Montague describes the businesses that surround his booth situated at the top of the Harvard "T" stop.

"We look out our window and we see the Coop, a department store, CVS, and six banks," Montague bemoans. "It's disappointing, you don't need a bank on every corner here."

Many employees and Cambridge politicians say the number of visitors to the Square has declined because the stores no longer offer unique merchandise and because what they do sell is too expensive.

"The Square is beginning to resemble the Burlington Mall," City Councilor Kathleen L. Born says. "And it's a terrible thing, because there is ultimately going to be a big loss in tourist dollars."

"There used to be a lot of low-cost cafeterias that would serve residents and students, now the cheapest meal you can get is at the Tasty," Born adds.

Store owners agree their surrounding neighborhood is beginning to resemble the local mall, a trend which they say is very disturbing.

"It used to be a small village with no chains at all except Woolworths," Harvard Shop owner Paul Corcoran says. "We're becoming more and more like a shopping center...this is not a good trend for the Square."

Harvard Bookstore owner Frank Kramer says trying to keep the mall-atmosphere out of the Square is "good business, not altruism."

"If we made Harvard Square into a mall just like any other mall, who would come?" Kramer asks.

City Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 says he regrets the transformation of the Square within the last decade, but adds that the Square's changes have merely mirrored the times.

"I think the Square is dictated by the economy; there is too much fast food, fast clothing, [and] I would like it to be a little...quieter," Duehay says. "There are too many new, trendy stores and it is hard for people in Cambridge to find shops and restaurants that appeal to them."

Business-Smart

While some Cambridge city councillors and many small business owners blame the "mall-ification" of the Square on large chain stores, owners and employees in these stores say their businesses have helped the Square attract more people.

"Although the alternative atmosphere may be ruined, from a business prospect, the large chains have brought in other genres of people and I don't think they have hurt the Square at all," says Tower Records manager Tracey Smith.

Tower Records opened its doors in Harvard Square in October 1991 and is one of 109 Tower stores around the world. Each Tower store is independently owned.

Smith says that business at her store "continues to grow each year." That growth has come in spite of the fierce competition between small and large music retailers in the Square. "HMV first opened three weeks after we did and business did drop substantially, then we leveled off," Smith says.

Smith dismisses the notion that competition has caused many small businesses to close. Instead, she says high rents around the Square have hurt small merchants.

"I think the [small businesses] will be squeezed out, not because of competition but because of the large rents...it is way too expensive for a small business person," Smith says.

Still, she laments that, because of the high cost of doing business there, "the Square will lose the general diversity that you get from small businesses."

Chili's general manager Matt Perry says the invasion of the large chains is inevitable in places like Harvard Square.

The Chilis restaurant opened in the Square in 1987, and Perry says business has increased every year. There are 19 Chili's restaurants in New England and two in the Boston area.

Perry says that people who typically like the quaint, friendly atmosphere of some of the small eating establishments in the Square should not be deterred by the large chains.

He says that even at a chain restaurant like his, patrons can get the same type of service and atmosphere as they would at a smaller restaurant.

"We've tried to create a more neighborhood bar atmosphere here, we have the same bartender who knows the regulars by name," Perry says.

"Personally I shop the independents whenever I can," he adds. "I like the mom and pop stores, but that does not mean you can't get mom and pop in a corporate atmosphere."

Stopping By

Some small business owners are especially glad that Chili's and other large chains have moved into the Square, because they say that consumers who shop at the large stores will usually stop by their quainter establishments.

"The bigger the company, the better the business for us," University Typewriter manager Justin Lopes said. "They draw more people into the Square."

Cambridge mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 agrees that chain stores have brought more people into the Square. Although he regrets that some small businesses have been forced to close, he says the phenomenon is nothing more than part of the business cycle.

"Stores do come and go; nothing in America stays the same," Reeves says.

But the mayor says that in the future, he would prefer places like One Brattle St., which contains such large, trendy shops as Structure and Express, be anomalies.

"In the future, I don't want to see any more One Brattles...I hope the smaller size stores can continue to be a part of the mix," Reeves says.

But Kristen Sudholz, the executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, says the mix between larger, trendier stores and smaller, more traditional shops already exists in the Square.

"The number of owner-operator stores [in Harvard Square] has actually increased since I've been here, from 165 to 240," she says.

Sudholz warns residents not to draw false conclusions about the Square based on the closing of several bookstores--including Barillari Books--in the past couple of years.

"It seems like a lot of bookstores have closed recently, but it is just because there's such a high percentage of them in the area," she says. "It's all relative."

A High-Rise Future?

Many small business owners and Cambridge politicians, however, do not share Sudholz's optimism. They believe the Square will change dramatically, for the worse, in the next 20 years.

"I am concerned that under the current zoning regulations of the Square, the Square could go high-rise, which would make it even more dense, more congested and more tourist-oriented," Duchay says. "That would be most regrettable."

Like Duchay, Marc Starr, the long-time manager of Starr Bookstore, says that high-rises in the Square will be "inevitable."

He concedes that if his store was not housed in the Harvard Lampoon building, it would face the distinct possibility of being sold to a real estate company who might shut it down.

"We are in the Lampoon building, so we know [my store] will not get torn down," Starr says. "But if we were in some private building, it would get bought and torn down."

The Costs of Development

Born blames some of her fellow city council members for allowing the Square to become more commercialized and homogeneous.

"Some of my colleagues want to see development at all cost," Born says.

She says that unless some council members change their attitudes, the Square, will continue to become "more like a mall and more the home of just students and wealthy people."

While Born and her fellow city councillors argue over the future direction of the Square, many small business owners on streets like Mt. Auburn, Brattle and Church, are rapidly being squeezed out of existence by the presence of the large chain stores.

As Le Foot Sportif's Gabai and other small business owners gaze monthly at their losses, they say they are comforted by one fact: in the end it is the consumer who will decide whether the Square becomes a mall or whether small business like their own will continue to figure prominently in the local landscape.

"It is up to the sophisticated consumer if they want to support the small, independent store or the big chain," Gabai says. "The verdict is in their hands."

Michael M. Luo and Andrew A. Green contributed to the reporting of this article.CrimsonJohn C. Mitchell