Smoking Mars Broadway Market

The new Broadway Market Place has largely been worth the long wait, providing residents of Broadway, Ware and Prescott streets with a scaled-down version of bread and Circus or a "mini-Barsamians," as it were, and it happily replaces the old Broadway Market, which had deteriorated into little more than a utilitarian eyesore. How wonderful it has been to be treated to the sight of fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, cheese and a relaxing place to sit, all in a refreshing new building.

After several months in operation, however, market management has unfortunately decided to ensure that the Bread and Circus analogy goes no further than the nearest cash register, by caving in to a few customers who have complained that cigarettes are not easily found in this part of Cambridge. One wonders how Starbuck's (next door) would have responded to such a request. One also wonders how the tradeoff for the new Broadway Market can actually be worth it. To be making a few extra dollars a day in exchange for a contradiction of their original image, to be sending a come and get 'em' message to the high school across the street, to be violating all common-sensical health information of the time and to be bucking what would seem to be the basic spirit of the region--all for meager commercial gain.

These products are clearly available widely and those who are in need of them will certainly have no trouble finding them. It strains credulity that they must be displayed so prominently at the cash register of such a fine market, greeting each customer upon entry and exit, almost like an out-of-place exclamation point.

Broadway Market Place's managers are a cheerful group who are quick to mention that this decision was reached only after "some discussion." One doesn't have the feeling that they came to the decision too happily. The hope here is that the "discussion" continue and be broadened into a dialogue. Not a dialogue within management itself, but between Broadway Market Place and its customers. Elmer Hawkes   Cambridge, MA