“They have some fondness for the Dickson Bros. sign,” Sullivan said. “I [told them] that we would certainly support preserving that sign.”
Left unsaid is any willingness to support having an actual hardware store. But an old sign? Can do!
“It’s no secret they might not be leasing as they hoped,” Sullivan said.
It's also no secret their business model depends on chain tenants willing to sign high dollar, long term leases which are complete non-starters for any independent store.
Ryles in Inman Square is now a bank across from another bank. Dickinson Brother's will be a bank across from two other banks. Rodney's in Central will be a bank. Shoot, even the People's Republik will probably be a bank.
Almost no living resident of Cambridge wants or needs these banks, yet they keep coming.
And its a total loss for them anyways. Teller visits are becoming less and less. So for banks to open branches is just them doing a business loss anyways. in a few years, it will close and they will move to another location and start the cycle again and write the whole thing off.
The whole thing started as a TARP scam anyways, CitiBank, Chase, CapitalOne, GMAC Financing (which became Ally Bank) were all going to lose their shirts in 2008. TARP said $ was only available to banks with branches. Wanna see how quickly these credit card companies started retail banking operations to line up for TARP? FAST.
You're right, we don't need these banks but they keep coming.
The Citi branch expansion in Boston was in motion a couple of years before the global financial crisis hit -- the first branch opened in 2006.
Historically branches and ATM locations have been valuable for gaining and retaining market share. BayBank had a valuable consumer franchise in the Boston area due to their physical presence (and most of those locations are still around with Wank of America). But with fintech and moves away from the use of cash or the need to physically deposit checks, consumers don't need to visit bank branches like they used to.
I don't quite get why Chase is opening a bunch of branches in the Boston area unless it's mostly a marketing exercise. Webster Bank took over a bunch of the Citibank branches and ended up closing those.
Because the laundry machines in my house take quarters. Bank of America in Brighton Center (where I have an account) let me stand in line for a good eight minutes a couple of weeks ago to tell me at the window that they had none.
. . . the bank can also sell books, since the Coop no longer fills that need. And keeping the Dickson sign will be great! We can look at it and remember the days when we could actually buy things we needed in Harvard Square instead of just walking past a bunch of banks.
I do agree with your sentiment but the Harvard Book Store does a fine job selling books just a few blocks down from the Coop. And Raven Books just around the corner now that I think about it.
Maybe instead of bemoaning the obviously terrible crap-ification of Harvard Square we should take the time to celebrate the (admittedly dwindling in number) quality businesses that remain there. While we're on the subject of books The Million Year Picnic continues to soldier on as well. Or if you still buy physical recordings of music there's The Armageddon Shop.
I'm not saying that the odds are good, but just crying over how Harvard is dead now is doing a massive disservice to the handful of places that still remain.
I don’t understand the need for a large storefront bank. What’s the purpose?
Chase built one on Commonwealth Ave near BU. I have to use that branch occasionally for a business client and it baffles me. 99% of the time, I’m the only person in there, but they have a “greeter” walk you to separate teller who then feeds your checks and deposit ticket through an OCR unit, and an automatic bill counter verifies any cash. There’s usually one or two other people sitting in offices, but they never seem to have customers. On one visit, since it was so quiet, I asked to talk to someone about a refinance of my personal mortgage.
No one was able to assist me as they “don’t do mortgages” there, but they did write down the general customer service toll free number on a post-it note and suggested I give them a call when I “had some time, their hold time can be long”.
The branch isn’t supposed to be a profit center; it serves as a marketing tool to remind prospective customers that the bank exists and has a local presence. (Not that most customers end up using the branches, but ‘has a local presence’ seems to be a competitive advantage nevertheless)
In addition to a bank, the project will also replace a hardware store with a sorely needed real estate office. But they'll keep the old sign, just to confuse people.
Cambridge will now have nearly as many fake hardware stores (Dickson Bros and FX Masse) as real ones (three).
I was in college in the late 1970s, and going to Harvard Square was a fun Friday night activity. Inexpensive restaurants, movie theaters, funky shops, and tons of bookstores. My dates often finished with a stop at Wordsworth, which was a wonderful way to end the evening.
...but (in the early 70s) stores selling records. Harvard Coop, Discount Records and Minuteman Records. To someone addicted to buying LPs it was like paradise.
I liked browsing the curio shop on Church Street. I got a large plaster castle for my friends D&D figurines there and a very cool folding knife. I don't know if the store actually had a name though.
I had a circuit I would use to crawl through the Square counter-clockwise and hit all the record stores in the early 80s. There were still a lot of good record stores when I lived in Cambridge in the early 90s, more on the fringes as the mall-ification of Harvard Square had already begun by that point (although on a laughably-small scale, in retrospect).
I've forgotten half the names, but I just recently found a record in my collection with a Beggar's Banquet pricetag on it. There was also, In Your Ear, Mystery Train, Second Coming (and whatever it was called before that?), a place across the street from Second Coming in the early 90s (next to Games People Play), lots more north and south of the Square on Mass Ave.
Comments
Lots of great quotes in that article
About the hardware store:
Left unsaid is any willingness to support having an actual hardware store. But an old sign? Can do!
It's also no secret their business model depends on chain tenants willing to sign high dollar, long term leases which are complete non-starters for any independent store.
The Landlord's Republik
Ryles in Inman Square is now a bank across from another bank. Dickinson Brother's will be a bank across from two other banks. Rodney's in Central will be a bank. Shoot, even the People's Republik will probably be a bank.
Almost no living resident of Cambridge wants or needs these banks, yet they keep coming.
right
And its a total loss for them anyways. Teller visits are becoming less and less. So for banks to open branches is just them doing a business loss anyways. in a few years, it will close and they will move to another location and start the cycle again and write the whole thing off.
The whole thing started as a TARP scam anyways, CitiBank, Chase, CapitalOne, GMAC Financing (which became Ally Bank) were all going to lose their shirts in 2008. TARP said $ was only available to banks with branches. Wanna see how quickly these credit card companies started retail banking operations to line up for TARP? FAST.
You're right, we don't need these banks but they keep coming.
Your timing is off for Citi
The Citi branch expansion in Boston was in motion a couple of years before the global financial crisis hit -- the first branch opened in 2006.
Historically branches and ATM locations have been valuable for gaining and retaining market share. BayBank had a valuable consumer franchise in the Boston area due to their physical presence (and most of those locations are still around with Wank of America). But with fintech and moves away from the use of cash or the need to physically deposit checks, consumers don't need to visit bank branches like they used to.
I don't quite get why Chase is opening a bunch of branches in the Boston area unless it's mostly a marketing exercise. Webster Bank took over a bunch of the Citibank branches and ended up closing those.
Why we need banks
Because the laundry machines in my house take quarters. Bank of America in Brighton Center (where I have an account) let me stand in line for a good eight minutes a couple of weeks ago to tell me at the window that they had none.
So I guess I'm making your point.
Hearing that Ryles became a
Hearing that Ryles became a bank is one of the most depressing things I've heard in a while, and well, that's saying something.
Maybe . . . .
. . . the bank can also sell books, since the Coop no longer fills that need. And keeping the Dickson sign will be great! We can look at it and remember the days when we could actually buy things we needed in Harvard Square instead of just walking past a bunch of banks.
Yes
I do agree with your sentiment but the Harvard Book Store does a fine job selling books just a few blocks down from the Coop. And Raven Books just around the corner now that I think about it.
Maybe instead of bemoaning the obviously terrible crap-ification of Harvard Square we should take the time to celebrate the (admittedly dwindling in number) quality businesses that remain there. While we're on the subject of books The Million Year Picnic continues to soldier on as well. Or if you still buy physical recordings of music there's The Armageddon Shop.
I'm not saying that the odds are good, but just crying over how Harvard is dead now is doing a massive disservice to the handful of places that still remain.
The Coop still has books
but selection is limited until renovations are complete (they're doing the annex now).
Large branch offices…
I don’t understand the need for a large storefront bank. What’s the purpose?
Chase built one on Commonwealth Ave near BU. I have to use that branch occasionally for a business client and it baffles me. 99% of the time, I’m the only person in there, but they have a “greeter” walk you to separate teller who then feeds your checks and deposit ticket through an OCR unit, and an automatic bill counter verifies any cash. There’s usually one or two other people sitting in offices, but they never seem to have customers. On one visit, since it was so quiet, I asked to talk to someone about a refinance of my personal mortgage.
No one was able to assist me as they “don’t do mortgages” there, but they did write down the general customer service toll free number on a post-it note and suggested I give them a call when I “had some time, their hold time can be long”.
See my post
See my post above to why they have retail branches... its just a TARP and tax scam
Except that isn't true at all
Except that isn't true at all.
The TARP criteria said a bank had to have "significant operations in the United States" and didn't define what that meant.
Nowhere did they mark that down.
Also, the exact opposite is true of bank branches:
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/26/979284513/what-are-we-going-to-do-towns-r...
We see branches "opening" in high-traffic areas because this is where people still use them. Everywhere else they are vanishing.
Alternative explanation
We also see branches in high traffic areas because that’s where the eyeballs are, and the banks see value in reminding people that they exist.
It’s basically a billboard
The branch isn’t supposed to be a profit center; it serves as a marketing tool to remind prospective customers that the bank exists and has a local presence. (Not that most customers end up using the branches, but ‘has a local presence’ seems to be a competitive advantage nevertheless)
The only useful new bank branches
are the Capital One Cafes, which double as Peet's coffee shops. Harvard Square already has one of these.
Real estate offices too!!
In addition to a bank, the project will also replace a hardware store with a sorely needed real estate office. But they'll keep the old sign, just to confuse people.
Cambridge will now have nearly as many fake hardware stores (Dickson Bros and FX Masse) as real ones (three).
The Ghost of Willie Sutton
is cursed to forever wander Havard Square, seeking that one bank where the money is.
So sad to see what Harvard Square has turned into
I was in college in the late 1970s, and going to Harvard Square was a fun Friday night activity. Inexpensive restaurants, movie theaters, funky shops, and tons of bookstores. My dates often finished with a stop at Wordsworth, which was a wonderful way to end the evening.
Not just books....
...but (in the early 70s) stores selling records. Harvard Coop, Discount Records and Minuteman Records. To someone addicted to buying LPs it was like paradise.
I liked browsing the curio
I liked browsing the curio shop on Church Street. I got a large plaster castle for my friends D&D figurines there and a very cool folding knife. I don't know if the store actually had a name though.
Through the 90s
I had a circuit I would use to crawl through the Square counter-clockwise and hit all the record stores in the early 80s. There were still a lot of good record stores when I lived in Cambridge in the early 90s, more on the fringes as the mall-ification of Harvard Square had already begun by that point (although on a laughably-small scale, in retrospect).
I've forgotten half the names, but I just recently found a record in my collection with a Beggar's Banquet pricetag on it. There was also, In Your Ear, Mystery Train, Second Coming (and whatever it was called before that?), a place across the street from Second Coming in the early 90s (next to Games People Play), lots more north and south of the Square on Mass Ave.