Harvard Book Store Readies Downtown Boston Shop on Union Street

Harvard Book Store is close to opening its second location, a 3,500-square-foot shop at 33 Union St. in downtown Boston’s Blackstone Block, with bookcases and floors already installed and an opening planned for this fall, co-owner Jeff Mayersohn told WBUR on Oct. 23, 2026. The Harvard Square store, open since 1932, will remain the flagship.

Harvard Book Store’s Boston location at a glance

• Address: 33 Union St., in the 1874 Yankee Publishing Building, near Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market and the Freedom Trail.
• Size: 3,500 square feet of retail space, plus a 1,500-square-foot café run by Lakon Paris Patisserie.
• Timing: Construction was already underway when the store announced the project on June 15; the owners have said “fall 2026” but have not set an exact date.
• Extras: A dedicated children’s area themed on Old Boston and the Freedom Trail, author talks, and, for the first time at Harvard Book Store, wine at some events.
• Team: Designed by RODE Architects, built by Trinity Building and Construction Management Corp., according to the City of Boston.

From Cambridge flagship to the Blackstone Block

Mayersohn and his wife, Linda Seamonson, bought Harvard Book Store in October 2008 from previous owner Frank Kramer, WBUR reported. Mayersohn said he had been a regular customer since moving to Cambridge to study physics in the late 1960s. General manager Lisa Jayne told WBUR that when she and the co-owners walked into 33 Union St., they agreed right away that it was the right space, citing its exposed brick and large windows, which echo the Cambridge store.

The new store will carry most of the same book categories as Cambridge, adjusted for the smaller footprint, Jayne said. Mayersohn told WBUR the store will hold a license to sell wine “both for our book events and for other occasions too.” Lakon Paris Patisserie, which has cafés in Brighton, the Seaport, Brookline and Newton, plans menu items made just for the Union Street location, according to Boston.com.

This is the bookseller’s second attempt at a Boston store. In 2022 it announced a nearly 30,000-square-foot store at the Prudential Center, then dropped the plan in February 2024 after delays and pandemic-related supply-chain problems, Boston.com reported. The Union Street space is roughly one-eighth that size.

Landmark rules shaped the storefront

The Blackstone Block was designated a Boston Landmark in 1983 for its street and alley pattern, which the city describes as the only part of Boston that keeps its original colonial layout. Any exterior change there needs a Certificate of Design Approval, and the Boston Landmarks Commission approved the bookstore’s exterior, storefront and signage work, according to a City of Boston post. The building’s “Yankee Publishing Building” sign remains on the facade. Cypress Realty Group owns the building, Boston.com reported.

In its letter to customers, the store tied the location to Boston’s literary past: the block is named for William Blackstone, said to have owned early New England’s largest library, and the colonial newspaper The Massachusetts Spy was published a few doors away.

The bookstore joins a block that has seen recent change; the neighboring Union Oyster House changed hands this fall, as we reported in our story on the Union Oyster House sale.

Analysis: Our Take

This section is opinion from The Boston Report, separate from the reporting above.

Downtown retail has had a rough year. Starbucks pulled back to a single State Street café, as we covered in our report on downtown Starbucks closures. A bookstore choosing the Faneuil Hall area runs against that trend, and we think the bet is sound for three reasons.

First, the size is right. Walking away from a 30,000-square-foot Prudential Center store for a 3,500-square-foot shop keeps rent and inventory risk small. Second, the café and wine license add higher-margin sales and reasons to stay longer, which matters for a store that will rely on tourists and visitors as much as daily office workers. Third, the location gives it built-in traffic: the Freedom Trail runs past the door.

The risk is seasonality. Faneuil Hall crowds thin out in January and February, and a fall opening means the store’s first full test comes in its slowest months. Author events and the children’s area will need to give local residents reasons to come downtown on winter weekends. Still, retail sales in Boston totaled about $22.1 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s QuickFacts, and a well-known independent brand with a loyal following is well placed to capture a share of it. For the wider picture, see our look at Boston’s small business economy this fall.

Sources

• WBUR: Harvard Book Store to open second location in downtown Boston (Oct. 23, 2026)
• City of Boston: A New Chapter for the Blackstone Block
• Harvard Book Store: 33 Union Street letter to customers (June 15, 2026)
• Boston.com: Harvard Book Store to open first-ever Boston location (June 15, 2026)
• U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Boston city, Massachusetts

Photo: Union Street in Boston’s Blackstone Block, by Marc N. Belanger, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.