John Henry lets his inner bookworm out, will invest in the Harvard Book Store
Harvard Book Store owners Jeff Mayersohn and Linda Seamonson told customers today that Red Sox and Globe owner John Henry "will be making a series of investments" in the Harvard Square institution.
Needless to say, we are very excited about this partnership, which will be transformative for our business.
John originally reached out to us during a very low point in the pandemic, having read about the financial challenges our store was facing, and offered to help. While over the last few months our financial situation has improved - thanks to our customers, our marvelous staff, our landlords Harvard Real Estate, and some very generous government programs - the long-term sustainability of Harvard Book Store remained uncertain. And so, our conversations with John have evolved from simply preserving the business in the short-term, to developing a vision for how we might work together to better serve our community of readers and writers for decades to come.
In the immediate future, we will embark on a series of renovation projects for our store at 1256 Mass Ave in Cambridge and enhancements to the browsing and e-commerce experience at harvard.com. All of these will make Harvard Book Store a better place to work and a better place to shop. Beyond these immediate projects, we are developing other plans, all in very early stages, that will serve the literary community in exciting ways. We look forward to sharing more with you as these projects progress.
They added that John and Lina Henry are not only committed to the Boston area but to independent bookstores. The two " are insistent that Harvard Book Store maintain its indie identity, which has defined it for almost ninety years."
H/t Derek.
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Anything that keeps indi bookstores alive
is okay by me.
Nowadays I walk around our fair city and fantasize about all the little endangered gems I'd save if I had John Henry kinds of money.
That's such a special store.
That's such a special store. I remember how meticulous the previous owner was about who he would sell to. Clearly he made the right choice selling to Mayersohn. I'm elated to see that so many helped keep things going and John Henry is using his wealth and power to help reinvent what an independent book store looks like in the 2020s and post Covid.
This does my heart good!
n/t
Fifty years ago
when I was a college student, Harvard Square was swarming with bookstores. Then Wordsworth(?) opened a few years later, expanding things further. I used to love hanging out at those bookstores. At some point, however, I began finding bookstores to be overwhelming, though I still went occasionally to Barnes & Noble/BU Bookstore in Kenmore Square and Paperback Booksmith in Coolidge Corner.
It's been a few years, but I was really impressed by the Harvard Book Store the last time I was there. I'm not sure it's the future (never thought it would happen, but I've gone pretty much wholly over to ebooks the last few years), but I'm glad they're holding on.
--gpm
Great - Now Sign Raffi and Mo To Long Term Deals
HBS is great, so is one of the best baseball players, and the greatest soccer player in the world that play on teams you own.
Get it done. I don't care if Mo is 29. Give him four years and Raffi ten.
Next up, Henry will be
Next up, Henry will be purchasing the adjacent Harvard University!
Harvard could buy John Henry
Harvard could buy John Henry and all the entities he partially owns with just their endowment with billions to spare and not even taking their property and other income sources into account.
The Red Sox would become the Crimson Sox
...and Harvard-Yale football games would be played at Fenway.