I venture into Harvard Square too infrequently, apparently, if I am to judge by the changes I see whenever I do head over that way. Today I passed by the location of Cappy’s Shoe Repair, which I knew was going out of business, and found out it has turned into the first ever Cross Retail Store, selling pens, paper, and other paraphernalia. The store is full of delicious stuff, like tiny briefcases, expensive digital camera cases, minuscule colored pencils, and funky European notebooks, but in the end, it’s pretty useless. It’s like Black Ink across the street only worse: it’s great that it’s here, and it’s really fun to browse, but I can’t imagine buying something there and not feeling a little ripped off. Harvard Square has too many stores like that, stores that are nice to peruse but too abstract and expensive to make a purchase from. Plus, the store seems to be laying claim to the mysterious address “Zero Brattle Street,” which, if it isn’t weird enough that it simply exists, is already in use by the neighboring Tealuxe (check out the virtual tour from the front of the store to see to now departed Cappy’s next door).

Down a few doors from the Cross Store, I stopped into Wordsworth Books, a Harvard Square institution. After 28 years, the store filed for bankruptcy last month and will close forever on Saturday. I remember hearing Richard Linklater speak there after a screening of Waking Life at the Brattle; it provided a nice venue for speakers and gatherings, in addition to being a good, well-stocked bookstore. From now until they close this weekend, everything is half off, so I picked up some early Christmas presents, a back issue of The Believer that I was missing, and Celluloid Skyline, the terrific book we used as the main text for the NYC on Film class I TA’d last year (a great book, and a great website, as well).

I wonder what will replace Wordsworth in that terrific central location. Now even the Abercrombie & Fitch that replaced The Tasty has been replaced… by a Citizens Bank. I’ll have to wait another few months before I go back, and see what else I won’t recognize.