Globe Corner Closes Its Doors

The shelves at the Globe Corner bookstore were empty for the first time in 18 years this week, as the Harvard Square fixture closed its doors after nearly two decades in business.

Boxes and a blowout sale marked the last days of Globe Corner, which leased a Harvard-owned property on the corner of Church and Palmer Streets, and catered to an elite traveling crowd, selling guidebooks, maps, and literature organized by region.

Store owner Patrick Carrier said that a declining travel industry over the past four years hurt his business, and that a scaffolding that obstructed his storefront during this past Christmas was the final nail on the coffin.

Carrier and his wife Harriet have been here before.

This marks the third time they have closed up shop in the past eight years—two previous travel bookstores, one in Downtown Boston and another in the Back Bay, have also closed their doors.

The Square closing was prompted by the expiration of the Carriers’ lease this past May. Harvard offered the Globe Corner another lease on the same terms, but their book sales could no longer support the required rent, Carrier said.

Carrier countered with another proposal that would have reduced the rent, but Harvard did not respond to the offer.

But Carrier said he and his wife had no plans on giving up just yet.

“We hope to be back in Harvard Square by the end of next year” in a spot that requires less rent, Carrier said, adding that he hopes to finalize plans to lease property for a new store in the Back Bay area within the next three weeks.

And Carrier, who said he is currently in negotiations with Harvard to reopen at another location in the Square, praised the University as a landlord, saying they were “terrific” and had shown “great flexibility” over the past 18 years.

Harvard Square lost another independent bookstore last fall, when WordsWorth Books went bankrupt, citing competition from internet sales and chain bookstores. Its children’s division remains open.

Although these factors may have damaged the Globe Corner as well, Carrier attributed his declining sales to travel-specific phenomenon.

“The last four years have been what I would describe as the four horsemen of the apocalypse for the travel industry,” Carrier said.

Carrier cited 9/11 and the ensuing downturn of the economy; the buildup to, and the war in, Iraq; China’s SARS virus; and the burst of the technology bubble as reasons people spent less money on travel.

“We would not be trying to discuss an alternative location if our sales in 2004 had not significantly rebounded to pre-9/11 levels,” he said.

Business began to pick up again in 2004, but the renovation of its Church Street building during the Christmas season was “absolutely devastating,” Carrier said, because it obstructed the storefront from view.

Carrier said fears that the reconstruction of Palmer Street would similarly hurt his business factored into his decision not to renew his lease.

But city officials vigorously defended their project, touting it as an important step toward improving public space.

“I don’t see anybody else going because of the renovations,” said Robin Lapidus, Association Executive Director of the Harvard Square Business Association, “I mean people withstand renovation, businesses withstand renovation.”

“These are designs that will make it the most photographed place in the square,” added John DiGiovanni, who directs the project and is the president of Trinity Properties, which owns the Garage.

—Staff writer Natalie I. Sherman can be reached at nsherman@fas.harvard.edu.