Harvard Book Store Shrank Its Boston Plan. The Blackstone Block Is a Better Fit for It.

In 2022, Harvard Book Store announced it would take over the 29,000-square-foot former Barnes & Noble space inside the Prudential Center. The plan fell through in 2024. Its second try at a Boston store puts 3,500 square feet of books and a 1,500-square-foot cafe at 33 Union St., in the oldest-looking part of downtown.

Taken together, the bookstore and cafe come to 5,000 square feet. That is about a sixth of the Pru plan, and The Boston Globe reported it is close to the size of the Cambridge flagship. Co-owner Jeff Mayersohn told the paper the Union Street space is "a much more realistic project for us" than the Pru was. That change in scale is the reason to pay attention if you live within walking distance of Faneuil Hall. A huge store needs crowds coming through. A store this size can get by on regulars, and the other recent openings around the Blackstone Block are small too.

The building was chosen before the block was

The store is going into the Yankee Publishing Building, which once held the offices of Yankee magazine. WBUR noted that the building sits in the middle of the Blackstone Block, a designated Boston landmark known for its rare 17th-century street pattern. According to Boston.com, the building's owner, Cypress Realty Group, describes the Blackstone Block as widely recognized as the city's oldest commercial district. Before the bookstore, the ground floor housed Saus and Paddy O's, according to a photo caption in the Globe.

The owners say the room itself won them over. "When we walked into it, we felt like, 'This feels like Harvard Book Store,'" Mayersohn told The Boston Globe. "It's got exposed brick and large windows. It has the same feel as our Cambridge building." General manager Lisa Jayne told WBUR that when she walked through with the co-owners, they all knew right away. "It's just a beautiful building, and it just felt right," she said.

The location mattered too. In a statement to the Globe, principal owner Linda Henry said the team chose 33 Union St. largely for its central spot, surrounded by "restaurants, attractions, historic sites, and year-round activity." The plan Henry describes depends on activity all year, not just summer foot traffic along the Freedom Trail.

What a 3,500-square-foot store chooses to include

A store this size has to be picky about what gets floor space. Here is what the owners have said the Boston store will have, as reported by Boston.com, the Globe and WBUR:

• Books and gifts, the same core as the Cambridge store, which stays the flagship.
• A dedicated children's area, which Mayersohn called one of the important new additions.
• Author talks and community events, with plans to grow the event series, add wine-and-book nights, and connect with the community around Union Street.
• An adjoining Lakon Paris Patisserie cafe, with menu items created only for this location.

Henry told the Globe the goal is a destination bookstore with "children's sections tailored to the character and visitors of the area." Jayne explained the cafe pairing to WBUR simply: "Everyone loves coffee and books together." Talks, a kids' corner and a cafe are all things a person comes back to. A tourist on the Freedom Trail stops in once. Someone who lives on Hanover Street or in the West End can come every week.

Lakon is a known name in the area. According to Boston.com, it already has locations in Brighton, the Seaport, Brookline and Newton, which makes Union Street its fifth. Boston.com's October roundup pointed to its cubed croissants, chocolate eclairs and Basque cheesecakes. "We've known the folks at Lakon Paris Patisserie for a few years now and like them enormously," Mayersohn told WhatNow Boston. "Their pastries are both delicious and works of art."

Downtown has been here before

A new-book store downtown is news because downtown spent years without one. In June 2011, Universal Hub reported that the Borders at Downtown Crossing would close after it failed to renegotiate its lease during bankruptcy. The site said at the time that this would leave no new-book stores downtown, since a Barnes & Noble a block away had closed in 2006.

The Back Bay lost its big store later. The Prudential Center Barnes & Noble closed on June 19, 2022, as reported by The Boston Globe. That is the space Harvard Book Store planned to fill before it dropped the project in February 2024. Boston.com reported the reasons as delays and pandemic-era supply-chain disruptions, and said the company would focus on its Harvard Square flagship instead.

According to Cambridge Day, Mayersohn said canceling the Pru store was disappointing but never dampened his enthusiasm for the business, which he described as having "thin margins" even in the best of times. "We never stopped looking," he told the Globe. Thin margins explain the smaller footprint. They also explain why the plan leans on a cafe and events, which bring people back.

The rest of the block is getting smaller and more specific too

The bookstore is the biggest name, but the other recent openings within a short walk of Union Street follow the same pattern. Each is a compact place that does one thing.

Baba Shawarma at 100 Blackstone St. is a fast-casual spot near Haymarket. It serves only Syrian-style chicken shawarma, with chicken marinated for 48 hours. Boston.com's B-Side stopped in for lunch in September and described a simple room with a small seating area. The Baba Meal of shawarma, fries and garlic sauce was $18.

Off the Rails at 25 School St., near Old City Hall, opened in October. Boston.com described it as a restaurant, country line-dancing bar and live music venue that came to Boston after building a following at its original Worcester location. The menu covers smashburgers, Nashville hot chicken, shrimp and grits, and steak bites with "cowboy butter." Its event calendar runs a free karaoke night and a free Honky Tonk Night, plus live music and late-night DJs through November and December.

A one-item lunch counter and a bar with free weeknight shows only work if people come back, which is the same bet the bookstore is making.

The holiday calendar within a few blocks

The seasonal events around Faneuil Hall and Haymarket follow the same idea. The two biggest markets repeat over several weekends, so they reward people who can walk over more than once.

Details are on the Faneuil Hall Marketplace Holiday Market page and the Boston Public Market events calendar. Boston Public Market's vendor page says its holiday market runs Saturdays and Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, plus Dec. 14–18 and Dec. 21–24. That puts weekday holiday shopping on Hanover Street in the final stretch before Christmas.

For the bookstore and Lakon, the owners announced a fall 2026 target. Harvard Book Store's Union Street page is the place to check for hours and the first Boston events.

At Your Partner Chris Real Estate, we track changes like these block by block, because a new bookstore with a kids' corner or a cafe you can walk to shapes daily life around Faneuil Hall. If you own downtown and want to see how your place compares with recent sales nearby, get your instant home valuation and we'll go through it with you.