Toward a Happier New Year on Harvard Square

Posted on December 18, 2008 by Doc Searls

Wahyd of Manifest has an original idea for saving the Out of Town News landmark at the heart of Harvard Square.

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7 Responses to Toward a Happier New Year on Harvard Square

  1. Yule Heibel says:
    December 18, 2008 at 9:33 pm

    I like Wahyd’s idea – it would have to be a boutique service, without the excess that characterizes the present Out of Town News offerings.

    It would no longer *be* OoTN, obviously. If OoTN is, oh, Galerie Printemps or Kaufhaus des Westens or Bloomingdale’s right now (something for everyone), the new incarnation would be a specialty boutique, based on existing consumer demand (*but without all the serendipity of finding something completely different from what you were looking for, perhaps*).

    But it’s still the case that the new format could morph and grow eventually. Serendipity *is* (or should be) built into markets – maybe into the mature ones. That is, it doesn’t happen in the new formats overnight – it has to grow, get cultivated (imo).

    Regardless, trying to bring print-on-demand *to the street* is a really interesting idea.

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  4. Gifts to Bangalore says:
    December 19, 2008 at 6:39 am

    Wish you all a Happy New Year in advance.

    Reply
  5. Aaron Pressman says:
    December 19, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    Doc, FWIW it sounds like the icon will retain its soul under new ownership – City of Cambridge has 11 bidders to take over the property, bids to be opened on January 8. See http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/business/x776478317/Former-Harvard-Square-newsstand-owner-wants-his-business-back

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