Word: macdonald
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...Amid a parade of empty tables, the loft serves as a seldom-used chess parlor, MacDonald reminisces about the 126-year-old store’s colorful past in Harvard Square, mourning the steady encroachment of national chains into what was once an enclave of mom-and-pop shops. Twiddling an empty Starbucks cup, he concedes that not all of the chains are unwelcome, but says that “when push comes to shove, it’s better to patronize the local businesses first...
...According to MacDonald, rising rents and the increasing popularity of online shopping—”a perfect storm of events”—has forced many independently-owned shops out of the Square...
...addition, a cultural shift away from smoking in recent years has forced MacDonald to diversify his store’s inventory, which now includes jewelry, shaving accessories, and board games. But he says he has been careful to select only merchandise that fits the store’s character—he refuses to carry Dungeons and Dragons, for instance—adding that “sometimes people lose their identity trying to be everything...
...MacDonald says that while the Square was once home to a host of “stores with character and stores with characters in it,” he now finds himself in small company. In the old days, “there were stores here you couldn’t get anywhere else,” he says. Now, “that base has been eroded basically because the stores in the Square have become very homogenous...
...It’s sad,” MacDonald says. “I’m one of those older guys I used to look at when I was younger...